Congressional Testimony: Future Defense Spending, Nuclear Modernization
James Acton | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Nuclear weapons appear to help deter nuclear aggression and prevent large-scale conventional conflict in a small number of high-consequence contingencies. Ensuring the efficacy of nuclear deterrence, therefore, is in the national security interests of the United States and its allies—so too are cooperative efforts to reduce the risks of escalation and arms racing and to create the political and security conditions under which nuclear weapons could be safely eliminated. For appropriators, the most salient nuclear policy questions are those with financial implications—in particular, how should the United States maintain and modernize its nuclear forces and their supporting infrastructure?
Washington’s Battle Over Nuclear Weapons Budget Already Underway
Joe Gould | Defense News
The U.S. government’s budget cycle is just getting started, but already Democrats and Republicans are in a war of words over whether to curb or continue the trajectory of spending on nuclear weapons modernization. Alongside early fighting over the defense top line, which is expected to be flat in President Joe Biden’s budget proposal this spring, Democrats have offered bills and urged the president to cut programs like the nuclear-armed, sea-launched cruise missile, while Republicans are publicly pressing to continue programs that mostly began during the Obama administration.
Iran’s Khamenei Reiterates Nuclear Deal Stance in New Year Speech
Maziar Motamedi | Al Jazeera
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reiterated that Iran will not give in to United States pressure in exchange for sanctions relief. In an hour-long televised address to the nation on Sunday to mark the start of the new Persian year, he said the “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions – which he called a “major crime” committed by “that previous fool” President Donald Trump – has failed. “He [Trump] went away in that infamous way, bringing disgrace to his country,” Khamenei said. “They must know ‘maximum pressure’ has failed so far, and if the current U.S. administration wants to continue, it will also fail.”
S. Korea’s Nuclear Armament Will Only Justify N. Korea’s Nuclear Ambition: Vincent Brooks
Byun Duk-kun | Yonhap News Agency
Arming South Korea with its own nuclear weapons against threats from North Korea would only help justify the North's ongoing pursuit of nuclear weapons, and thus making it impossible to denuclearize the North, a former commander of U.S. Forces Korea said Monday. Vincent Brooks argued the U.S. must instead periodically reaffirm its commitment to the joint defense of South Korea and strengthen its extended nuclear deterrence for South Korea. “My opinion is that the provision of nuclear weapons in South Korea would not be helpful,” Brooks said when asked if South Korea should have its own nuclear weapons.
Russian Envoy Says UK Nuclear Arms Plan is Illegal
Reuters
Russia’s ambassador to Britain has accused the UK government of breaking its international treaty commitments with a plan to increase the country’s nuclear arsenal and said the political relationship between Moscow and London is “nearly dead”. In a foreign and defence policy review published on Tuesday and endorsed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Britain said it needed to increase its nuclear arsenal in the face of evolving global security threats. Britain said it would raise the upper limit on its nuclear warhead stock to 260 from 180. The same report also classified Russia as “the most acute threat to our security” in the Euro-Atlantic region.
Iran Says to Cold Test Redesigned Arak Nuclear Reactor
Reuters
Iran will cold test its redesigned Arak nuclear reactor as prelude to fully commissioning it later in the year, Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said on Friday. Spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi was quoted by local media as saying the cold testing, which usually include the initial startup of fluid systems and support systems, will take place early in the Iranian new year that begins this Sunday. “In other words, we have advanced work in the field of fuel, storage, etc,” Kamalvandi said. Iran has recently accelerated its breaches of the 2015 international nuclear deal in an apparent bid to pressure U.S. President Joe Biden to reverse his predecessor’s abandonment of the agreement.