How the US Destruction of the INF Treaty Backfired

Reports of Russia’s “Iskander-1000” are not just about a new weapon—they are the logical consequence of Washington’s systematic dismantling of the arms control architecture, which has ultimately backfired against the US.

The Iskander’s range had previously been capped at 500 km by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. However, that cap was lifted following the unilateral withdrawal of the US from the treaty in 2019 under the first Trump administration. That had followed the likewise unilateral US withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty in 2002 under the Bush administration — all part of a continuous US policy of dismantling arms control treaties and rolling out treaty-violating weapons along the borders of not only Russia but also Iran in West Asia and China in the Asia-Pacific region.

Among those US treaty-violating systems were Aegis Ashore installations capable of tracking and intercepting missiles fired by Russia as part of a retaliatory strike — a key violation of the ABM treaty, which would theoretically allow the US to carry out a nuclear or conventional first strike on Russia while preventing or minimizing any Russian retaliation. The Aegis Ashore system is also capable of ground-launching INF treaty-prohibited Tomahawk cruise missiles (2,500 km) offensively. Aegis Ashore was constructed and brought online in Romania and Poland during the Obama and Biden administrations, respectively.

Also following the US withdrawal from the INF treaty was the development and deployment of the mobile Typhon system capable of ground-launching conventional or nuclear-capable Tomahawk cruise missiles previously prohibited under the INF treaty. The first Typhon systems became operational, and plans to deploy it began under the subsequent Biden administration  — demonstrating continuity of agenda regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans controlled the US government.

In addition to the Aegis Ashore and Typhon systems, the US also began work on........

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