Spain will allow U.S. military ships to dock in its ports as part of a new antiballistic missile defense system designed to better protect Europe against a potential Iranian nuclear threat.

Defense officials said the plan will make it easier to maintain a continuous naval presence in the Mediterranean Sea, according to a Reuters report.

The move comes just seven months after the Pentagon sent the USS Monterey to the Mediterranean. That was the first part of a four-phase plan to put land- and sea-based radars and interceptors in several European locations over the next decade.

However, the plan has drawn opposition from Russia, which worries the system could target Russian warheads or undermine its deterrence strategy.

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