Iran Revolutionary Guards Conduct Ballistic Missile Test
Bozorgmehr Sharafedin and Sam Wilkin | Reuters
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) test-fired several ballistic missiles from silos across the country on Tuesday, state television said, defying recent U.S. sanctions on its missile program. The test happened two months after the United States sanctioned businesses and individuals linked to Iran's missile program over a test of the medium-range Emad missile carried out in October 2015.
Let Russia’s Planes Keep Flying Over US, Just Like Ike Wanted
Michael Krepon | Defense One
President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a decision to make after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. He could accept the Kremlin’s right to traverse space above the United States or resolve to deny this form of intelligence gathering through military means. Ike chose to accept increased transparency rather than place future leaders of both countries on a collision course toward warfare in space.
In Drills, U.S., South Korea Practice Striking North’s Nuclear Plants, Leaders
Anna Fifield | Washington Post
The United States and South Korea kicked off major military exercises on Monday, including rehearsals of surgical strikes on North Korea’s main nuclear and missile facilities and “decapitation raids” by special forces targeting the North’s leadership.
The drills always elicit an angry response from Pyongyang, but Monday’s statement was particularly ferocious, accusing the United States and South Korea of planning a “beheading operation” aimed at removing Kim Jong Un’s regime.
N. Korea Threatens Nuclear Strikes over South-U.S. Military Drills
Hwang Sung-Hee | Agence France-Presse
North Korea threatened pre-emptive and "indiscriminate" nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States on Monday, as the two allies kicked off their annual, large-scale military exercises. The drills always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North's recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over tough UN sanctions imposed in response.
China, South Korea Step Up Sanctions on North Korea
Ju-Min Park and Ruby Lian | Reuters
China has barred a North Korean freighter from one of its ports and South Korea announced a crackdown on individuals and companies linked to Pyongyang's weapons program, stepping up sanctions against the isolated state. North Korean general cargo ship Grand Karo arrived at Rizhao port in northeastern China a few days ago, but the port did not allow the ship to berth, said a person at the Rizhao Maritime Authority, declining to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Ships Prepare to Return 331-kg Plutonium Stash From Japan to U.S.
Japan Times
A U.S. civic group said Friday two ships have arrived in Kobe to transport the massive plutonium stash Japan agreed in 2014 to return to the United States. The British-flagged ships will pick up the cargo in the village of Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture, and take it during a 52-day voyage to the Savannah River Site, a U.S. government nuclear facility in South Carolina, according to Savannah River Site Watch.