The United States and Construction of Threat out of Iran’s Missile Defense Program

The missile defense program is the overriding part of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI)’s defense strategy to counter foreign threats. Despite the lack of an international legal ban on the development of Iran’s missile defense program, the United States has consistently sought to securitize and portray it as a threat to international peace and security in order to restore the lost consensus on sanctions against Iran. In the Copenhagen School, securitization is equivalent to threatization, a phenomenon that is not necessarily a real danger, but the creation of a common belief that the phenomenon is a threat and it is needed to be countered. The securitization actor (US), representing an issue (Iran’s missile defense program) as an existential threat, justifies immediate and exceptional measure for mitigation. Based on the research hypothesis, the US strategy to implement this approach is based on the two pillars of “range capability” and “warhead carrying” of Iranian missiles. In the same vein, the United States highlights the range of Iran’s missiles to introduce it as a measure for expanding the range of the missiles for acquisition of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). On the other hand, it emphasizes the warhead capability to display the missiles as ballistic missiles carrying a nuclear warhead. The method used in this research is analytical-explanatory by means of library tools, documents, electronic resources and websites and statements of relevant authorities to collect data.