Iran Nuclear Deal’s Next Test: Getting Through the IAEA
Mark Hibbs | National Interest
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its member countries will take critically important decisions in the coming days about allegations that Iran has worked on making nuclear weapons. Their actions will determine whether and how the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the agreement which Iran and six other countries including the United States concluded this summer to end the Iran nuclear crisis—will be implemented.
U.N. Watchdog: Iran Pursued a Nuclear Bomb
Elias Groll | Foreign Policy
A highly anticipated report by the International Atomic Energy Agency has concluded that Iran carried out a coordinated effort to develop a nuclear bomb until 2003 and conducted sporadic weapons-related experiments until 2009, when the effort was finally abandoned. The probe bolsters longstanding American contentions that Iran was pursuing a bomb — and undercuts Tehran’s steadfast denial that its nuclear program was anything other than peaceful.
U.S. Plans to Counter Arms Breach by Russia
Michael R. Gordon | New York Times
Frustrated by Russia’s refusal to address the Obama administration’s concerns that it has violated a landmark arms control accord, the Pentagon is moving ahead with plans to strengthen defenses in Europe against Moscow’s military programs, including the threat posed by cruise missiles, a senior Defense Department official told Congress on Tuesday.
Russia Flight Tests Anti-Satellite Missile
Bill Gertz | Washington Free Beacon
Russia carried out the first successful flight test of a new anti-satellite missile this month, marking a new phase in the global militarization of space.The flight test of Russia’s direct ascent anti-satellite missile, known as Nudol, took place Nov. 18, according to defense officials familiar with reports of the test.
New Nuclear Test Tunnel Under Construction at North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site
Jeffrey Lewis | 38 North
Recent commercial satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is excavating a new tunnel for nuclear testing at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. This tunnel is in a new area of the site in addition to the three others where the North has either conducted nuclear tests or excavated tunnels in the past. While there are no indications that a nuclear test is imminent, the new tunnel adds to North Korea’s ability to conduct additional detonations at Punggye-ri over the coming years if it chooses to do so.
U.S. Diplomat: Syria Has ‘Continued to Use Chemical Weapons on Its Own People’
Paul McLeary | Foreign Policy
Diplomats attending a conference for an international watchdog group helping investigate reports of chemical weapons attacks against Syrian civilians came out swinging Monday, accusing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of continuing to use the lethal munitions against his own people despite having promised to eliminate his stocks of chemical weapons. The allegations came during a pointed opening session of the annual meeting of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, in The Hague.