The 1972 treaty bars the deployment of any effective defense against intercontinental missiles or national defenses against missiles.
According to the study, after the Soviet Union crumbled, Russia’s control over missile production technology disintegrated.
Russia has allowed Iran to obtain powerful rocket engines and designs for an engine capable of launching a rocket that could reach Germany or be used as a space-launch vehicle, the study said.
Russia also joined forces with France and China, which led to the elimination of UNSCOM, the United Nations body that monitored Iraq, paving the way for Iraq to resume its development of long-range missiles.
The paper came out of a small, round-table workshop held in Madrid. It included European defense officials and Charles Duelfer, the former deputy head of UNSCOM.
According to Dore Gold, head of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and author of the study, information gathered by UNSCOM showed that Iraq had still not accounted for 500 tons of rocket fuel and 1,000 Scuds that Saddam Hussein ordered produced in 1988.
Israel is not a signatory to the ABM treaty, but no expansion of its missile defense system is possible as long as the United States adheres to it.
“It is not up to Israel to decide whether the United States should break out or renegotiate the ABM treaty,” Gold said. “But Israel is clearly affected by what the United States does and no decision should be taken which would limit Israel’s missile defense.”