Iran Chief Negotiator Unexpectedly Leaves Vienna as Nuclear Talks Hit Standstill
Laurence Norman | Wall Street Journal
Iran’s chief negotiator at the nuclear talks in Vienna unexpectedly returned home Monday night, prompting European officials to say negotiations were at a standstill. Iranian officials said Ali Bagheri-Kani, who leads the Iranian negotiating team, would soon return to Vienna. Two Western diplomats said it wasn’t clear why Mr. Bagheri-Kani left or when he would return. His departure comes after Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart discussed Moscow’s weekend demand that Washington provide it with written guarantees that Western sanctions on Ukraine wouldn’t harm future Russian-Iranian trade.
Fire at Nuclear Power Plant From Russian Attack Sparks Fears of ‘Fukushima-Style Meltdown’
Joel Shannon and Elizabeth Weise | USA Today
Fears of an unprecedented nuclear disaster spread rapidly overnight when part of Europe’s largest nuclear plant caught on fire in Ukraine as Russian forces shelled the area. Amid a stream of confusing, alarming, and, at times, conflicting information about the incident, The International Atomic Energy Agency soon said the “serious situation” had not affected essential equipment at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and that there had been no change in radiation levels. Ukrainian authorities confirmed that the blaze was later extinguished by firefighters on Friday.
North Korea Could Return to ICBM, Nuclear Tests This Year, U.S. Intelligence Report
Reuters
North Korea’s missile launches could be groundwork for a return to intercontinental ballistic missile and nuclear bomb tests this year for the first time since 2017, the U.S. Directorate of National Intelligence (DNI) said in its annual Worldwide Threat Assessment released on Monday. On Tuesday, U.S.-based analysts said commercial satellite imagery shows construction at North Korea’s nuclear testing site for the first time since it was closed in 2018. International experts have also reported that North Korea’s main nuclear reactor facility at Yongbyon appears to be in full swing, potentially creating additional fuel for nuclear weapons.
North Korea Fires Ballistic Missile in Extension of Testing
Kim Tong-Hyung and Mari Yamaguchi | Associated Press
North Korea on Saturday fired a ballistic missile into the sea, according to its neighbors’ militaries, extending Pyongyang’s streak of weapons tests this year amid a prolonged freeze in nuclear negotiations with the United States. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile fired from an area near the North Korean capital flew about 270 kilometers (168 miles) eastward at a maximum altitude of 560 kilometers (348 miles) before landing in waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan. It said U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials were closely analyzing the launch. The launch was North Korea’s ninth round of weapons tests in 2022 as it continues to use a pause in diplomacy to expand its military capabilities while attempting to pressure the Biden administration for concessions.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Says It Launches 2nd Satellite
Amir Vahdat and Jon Gambrell | Associated Press
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Tuesday it launched a second reconnaissance satellite into space as world powers await Tehran’s decision in negotiations over its tattered nuclear deal... The Guard said the Noor-2 satellite reached a low orbit of 500 kilometers (310 miles) above the Earth’s surface on the Qased satellite carrier, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It described the Qased, or “Messenger” in Farsi, as a three-phase, mixed-fuel satellite carrier.
Rose Gottemoeller Says That NATO Has Proved Its Worth in Dealing With Russia
Rose Gottemoeller | The Economist
This war between Russia and Ukraine shows why the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is the most successful of the international bodies created in the wake of the second world war. As Russian forces built up along Ukraine’s borders in the final months of 2021, the NATO alliance was watchful and active, continuing its exercises and policing the sea and airspace near Russia and Belarus. This was despite the insurrectionist riot at the US Capitol in January, the shambolic withdrawal of alliance forces from Afghanistan in August, and the ravages of the Delta and Omicron variants across Europe and North America. Somehow, NATO kept going quietly about its business.