The United States, under the directive of former President Donald Trump, is once again moving towards the weaponization of space, a development that has drawn sharp criticism from Russia. Trump’s recent executive order calls for the creation of an American ‘Iron Dome’ missile defense system, a decision that echoes the Cold War-era Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), famously dubbed ‘Star Wars.’

The plan, which includes the development of “space-based interceptors,” has been condemned by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as a destabilizing move that could trigger another arms race. According to Zakharova, the decision is proof of Washington’s determination to turn space into an arena for armed confrontation and warfare. The move, she argues, violates previous arms control agreements and undermines efforts to establish internationally accepted norms for space security.

Trump’s initiative bears an uncanny resemblance to Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which sought to develop a space-based missile defense system capable of neutralizing Soviet nuclear threats. At the time, the program triggered a military technology race between the two superpowers, fueling Cold War tensions.

Though the SDI program never materialized as intended due to technological and financial constraints, it did lead to significant advancements in missile defense technologies. The arms race it ignited eventually pushed the United States and the Soviet Union to negotiate arms control treaties, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. However, since the early 2000s, Washington has systematically withdrawn from most of these agreements, leaving a vacuum in global arms control........

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