Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will abandon plans championed by his predecessor George W. Bush to build a missile-defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer said.

Obama phoned Fischer last night and also informed the Polish government, the premier told reporters in Prague. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control Ellen Tauscher met with Polish officials representing Prime Minister Donald Tusk this morning and will arrive in Prague this afternoon.

“Shortly after midnight Barack Obama called me to announce that his government is withdrawing plans to place a missile shield in the Czech Republic,” Fischer said. “We were aware of the possibility and were also aware of the fact that they were analyzing the plan.”

A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Obama had called Fischer while declining to say what was discussed. Obama will make a statement on missile defense at 10:15 a.m. in Washington, according to a White House statement.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed the agreement in 2008 and NATO endorsed it the same year. The plan envisaged building a radar station in the Czech Republic and installing missiles in northern Poland to intercept rockets fired by states hostile to the U.S. While the plan was backed by the governments, the demand stirred protests in both countries and strained relations with Russia, which argued the proposal was a threat to its security.

‘Major Adjustments’

Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Defense Secretary Robert Gates and General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs, will announce “major adjustments” to the U.S. plan at a 10:30 a.m. press conference today in Washington.

Morrell declined to confirm that the U.S. is dropping plans for the ground-based shield in Poland and the Czech Republic but said that concept was based on the threat of a long-range missile from Iran.

“Intelligence now shows they are much more fixated on developing short- and medium-range missiles,” and the U.S. plans to develop a system that “is very adaptable to this kind of threat,” he said.

Obama, during a visit to Prague in April, linked the issue to Iran’s nuclear program and held out the prospect it could be discarded.

“If the Iranian threat is eliminated, we will have a stronger basis for security, and the driving force for missile- defense construction in Europe at this time will be removed,” Obama said in April.

Bush Rationale

Vice President Joe Biden declined to tell reporters today in Baghdad if Obama plans to abandon the missile plan.

“The president is not prepared to make any statement,” he said at Al Faw Palace in Baghdad, one of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s retreats. Biden is in Iraq to press the country’s leaders to address job creation and business regulation.

The Bush administration had said the system was designed to protect against attack from nations with nuclear aspirations, such as Iran and North Korea, and would be operational in about 2011.

Talk of dropping the system follows a review ordered by Obama that’s due to be completed next week and will recognize that Iran’s long-range missile program hasn’t progressed as expected, reducing the perceived threat to the U.S. and major European cities, the Wall Street Journal reported today.

‘Fits the Picture’

Former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, who signed the accord with Rice last year, said the decision to cancel the project “fits the picture of a U.S. administration that is trying to solve problems with Iran.

“It’s also the result of long-term efforts by the U.S. that the Russian Federation, if possible, also exercise its influence over Iran to get rid of nuclear weapons,” Schwarzenberg said in a phone interview. “It’s a sort of accommodating gesture.”

The U.S. delegation ended talks at Poland’s Foreign Ministry shortly before 11 a.m., according to TVN24 television, which showed U.S. negotiators exiting the building in Warsaw.

Russia is waiting for official confirmation, Interfax reported, citing an unidentified Foreign Ministry official. The Bush administration’s plans contributed to strained U.S. relations with then President Vladimir Putin, which said the missile-defense system would threaten the deterrent power of its nuclear arsenal.

Dialogue With Russia

The decision demonstrates the Obama administration’s “serious approach to a strategic dialogue with Russia,” said Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the foreign relations committee of Russia’s lower house of parliament, RIA Novosti reported.

President Dmitry Medvedev said on Nov. 5, hours after Obama’s election victory, that Russia would station Iskander missiles in its westernmost region of Kaliningrad if the U.S. went ahead with the system.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said such a move by the U.S. would be a “positive step” that would enable the alliance to play a more prominent role in future missile defense plans.

The new U.S. policy would “involve NATO as such to a higher degree in the future,” Rasmussen told reporters. “It is in full accordance with the principal of solidarity within the alliance and the indivisibility of security in Europe.”

Moves to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions kicked into a higher gear this week with the announcement of an Oct. 1 meeting between Iran and six leading world powers, the first since President Barack Obama took office.

Approaching Iran

“The U.S. is trying to reach a modus vivendi with Iran, and it’s difficult to tell the Iranians you want to talk to them and build the missile shield at the same time,” said Krzysztof Bobinski, president of Warsaw-based political research foundation Unia & Polska.

The Czech Republic remains an ally of the U.S. and should not be taken aback by the decision, Schwarzenberg said, adding the decision to host the radar was “correct.”

The Czechs, who enjoy visa-free travel to the U.S., signed the agreement to move ahead with the radar in 2008 under the administration of former Prime Minster Mirek Topolanek, whose government has since been ousted.

In the Czech town of Trokavec where the radar was designated to be built about an hour west of Prague, the town’s mayor said in a telephone interview the news was a “great relief.”

“The U.S. and Russia should become partners and join their forces to fight countries like Iran,” said Jan Neoral, who as mayor won an unofficial referendum in March, 2007 to fight the U.S. plans. “That would be much more efficient than placing a costly and not very effective missile shield in Central Europe.”

To contact the reporters on this story Douglas Lytle at +420-2-2442-2101 or dlytle@bloomberg.net To contact the reporter on this story: Lenka Ponikelska in Prague at +420-2-2442-2106 or lponikelska1@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: September 17, 2009 09:56 EDT