New START Treaty Aggregate Numbers of Strategic Offensive Arms
U.S. Department of State
Under the New START Treaty, the United States and the Russian Federation are obligated to exchange data on treaty-accountable items twice a year. Regrettably, the Russian Federation announced a unilateral and unjustified purported suspension of the Treaty on February 28, 2023. Subsequently, the Russian Federation did not fulfill its obligation to provide updated data in March 2023 and is not implementing other key provisions of the treaty. As a lawful countermeasure in response to the Russian Federation’s violation of its New START Treaty obligations, the United States did not provide its March data update to Russia. In the interest of transparency and the U.S. commitment to responsible nuclear conduct, the United States is voluntarily releasing aggregate data for its nuclear forces covered by the New START Treaty in this Fact Sheet.
Europe Presses White House to Address Iran’s Growing Nuclear Program
Laurence Norman | Wall Street Journal
Alarmed by Iran’s progress in enriching uranium at close to weapons-grade levels, European countries are pressing the Biden administration to revive a diplomatic track with Tehran that they hope would help avoid a possible nuclear crisis…European officials say time is running out to diplomatically address an Iranian nuclear program that puts Tehran as little as several months away from being able to develop a nuclear weapon, but they are worried that the White House has shelved the issue until after the 2024 election. They acknowledged that any new effort to keep a lid on Iran’s nuclear advances may fail to stop Iran from eventually getting a weapon.
ROK Tech for Defending Against North Korea Lags Years Behind US, Report Finds
Jeongmin Kim | NK News
The advanced military technology that forms South Korea’s “core” defenses against North Korean nuclear and missile threats lags several years behind comparative systems in the U.S. and other countries, Seoul’s defense ministry states in a new report. The Defense Strategic Technology Level Research report, published by a think tank under the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), states that South Korea is on average six years behind the defense technology across multiple different sectors compared to other countries with similar assets that the ROK military is currently developing.
Biden is Going to Hiroshima at a Moment When Nuclear Tensions are on the Rise
Scott Detrow | NPR
In 2016, Obama was making a clear decision to visit Hiroshima and confront what happened there. But Biden's trip will be a bit different, given that he is coming to meet with other world leaders at the G-7. They are expected to begin the summit with a visit to Hiroshima's Peace Memorial, and may meet with survivors of the bombing. Still, for Biden, the trip will inevitably carry heavy symbolism. "You have a sitting U.S. president, a man with control over the world's most powerful nuclear arsenal, going to the place where nuclear weapons were first used. That has impact," Wolfsthal said.
Japan, South Korea Agree on Visit to Fukushima Nuclear Plant Ahead of Planned Water Release
MARI YAMAGUCHI | Associated Press
Japanese and South Korean officials held hourslong talks into early Saturday and agreed on a visit later this month by South Korean experts to the Fukushima nuclear plant before it begins the controversial release of treated but radioactive water into the sea. The safety of the water is a major sticking point as the two sides work to improve long-strained ties.
Nuclear Tests May Be Back on Moscow’s Agenda
Cheryl Rofer | Foreign Policy
Discussions of whether to test assume that we must continue to maintain at least the numbers of nuclear weapons that we have now, with similar capabilities. Deterrence is the easily provided justification. In a common interpretation, deterrence requires equal numbers of deployed weapons at, or currently slightly above, the limits of the New START treaty signed in 2010. Some argue that China’s apparent buildup of its nuclear arsenal requires yet more weapons. What effect do the uncertainties of aging have on deterrence?