Iran Says U.S. Can’t Renegotiate Nuclear Deal
Tehran Times
Just a week away from President-elect Donald Trump to take office, Iran is increasingly toughening rhetoric against the U.S. for a possible dishonoring of the 2015 international nuclear deal, saying it won’t allow reigniting the debate. “The BARJAM (Persian acronym for the deal) dossier won’t reopen, and we won’t allow this to happen,” Majid Takhtravanchi, top nuclear negotiator and deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, was quoted as saying on Friday. “And this is the stance of all signatories to the deal.” Also, Kamal Kharrazi, director of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations who was Iran’s foreign minister from 1997 to 2008, on Friday highlighted the international dimension of the deal, which cannot be reviewed.
Russian Official Rejects Trump Offer To Lift Sanctions For Nuclear Arms Deal
RadioFreeEurope
Russia appears to have rejected U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's offer to lift U.S. economic sanctions against Russia in exchange for a deal to curb nuclear arms. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters at the United Nations in New York on January 16 that Moscow was willing to talk to the United States about nuclear disarmament, but it was not going to discuss arms control as part of a deal to lift sanctions.
NuScale First To Submit SMR Nuclear Application to NRC
James Conca | Forbes
Last week, NuScale announced their submission of the first design certification application for any SMR in the United States to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They did all the legwork and got all their ducks in a row before submitting, something that is critical for success with the NRC. The application consisted of 12,000 pages of technical information. After a quick review period of two months to see if any additional information is required prior to starting their full review, the NRC will take 40 months to review and issue a design certification. That certification will be valid for 15 years to support a combined license application for NuScale to construct and operate this new type of power plant.
Russia Military Weapons 2017: Precision Bombs Could Replace Nuclear Weapons As Deterrent To Avoid Arms Race
Shreesha Ghosh | International Business Times
Russia could replace its nuclear weapons arms with high-precision bombs as factors of deterrence in order to strengthen world peace and to help decrease international tensions, the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reportedly said in a public lecture Thursday. "By 2021, we plan to go beyond quadrupling the combat capabilities of Russian strategic non-nuclear forces, which will then give us the opportunity to solve the issue of non-nuclear deterrence", Shoigu said at the lecture on military manufacturing. He reportedly also said Russia would maintain its existing level of military but that the country did not want to be dragged into a new arms race in the future, saying: "The Kremlin plans to maintain the country’s current level of national security, developing its 'general-purpose' forces to operate in peacetime and in armed conflicts, including missions against international terrorists."
'China's PLA Held Live Drills With 100 Ballistic Missiles'
Economic Times
China's newly formed Rocket Force launched 100 ballistic missiles last year while army conducted scores of live drills, official media reported here today, as the 2.3 million strong PLA, the world's largest army, adopts a more aggressive posture with massive structural revamp. Each combatant branch of the PLA - the Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force - has confirmed that realistic training drills and exercises were intensified last year under military reforms initiated by Chinese President Xi Jingping, state-run China Daily said in a lenghty feature on how the Chinese military is transforming itself.
Implementing the Iran Nuclear Deal: A Status Report
International Crisis Group
One year since its “implementation day”, 16 January 2016, the July 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (the P5+1) – the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – is both a success and in jeopardy. It has delivered so far on its narrow objective: effectively and verifiably blocking all potential pathways for Iran to race toward nuclear weapons, while opening the door to the country’s international rehabilitation and economic recovery.