WARSAW: Poland and the United States have not yet reached an agreement to station a US missile shield on the territory of the ex-communist Nato member, Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich said on Thursday.

“The negotiations have not ended — another round of talks was concluded — For the time being we are not at the finish line,” Klich told Poland’s private Radio Zet. “We completed an important, a significant, round of talks two days ago but the finish line of talks is still ahead of us,” he said, adding “July is a long month.”

On Wednesday a senior State Department official who asked not to be named told AFP that a “tentative agreement” had been reached after two days of talks between Polish and US officials.

“At this point, I am really happy that we made real good progress in the past few days,” the unnamed official said.

The United States wants to base 10 interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar facility in the neighbouring Czech Republic to ward off potential attacks by so-called “rogue” states, notably Iran.

Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried, a former ambassador to Poland, has said the last round of talks had made real progress but refused to confirm that an agreement had been reached.