POLAND today agreed to a new version of a deal on stationing an American missile shield which will be aimed essentially at potential threats from Iran.

Warsaw "accepts signing a protocol modifying the accord signed by the Polish and American governments on the installation on our territory of anti-ballistic missile interceptors concluded in Warsaw on August 20, 2008," the government said.

In September, President Barack Obama shelved a plan by his predecessor George W. Bush to deploy a missile shield in Poland and a radar base in the Czech Republic by 2013. Russia had slammed the plan as a grave security threat.

The US has insisted the system was in no way aimed against Russia but was aimed at countering potential attacks by so-called "rogue" states, such as Iran.

The Obama administration later said it wanted to deploy a new SM-3 anti-missile system in Poland and the neighboring Czech Republic in 2015.

A first batch of United States Patriot missiles will be deployed in Poland in April, defense ministry spokesman Janusz Sejmej said Saturday.

The United States has also spoken with Romania about hosting 20 missile interceptors as part of the new U.S. missile shield in Europe, Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Baconschi said on Saturday.