It’s Time to Talk to Iran
William Burns and Jake Sullivan | New York Times
This month, six years ago, we were in the midst of secret talks with Iran that led to the comprehensive nuclear agreement. It was a moment when diplomacy carried considerable risk, and considerable promise. Today, the promise has faded, and the risk is accelerating. The consequences of the Trump administration’s foolish decision to abandon that nuclear deal last year, with no evidence of Iranian noncompliance, were predictable — and predicted. We are now at a very dangerous point. The story of how we got here is one of faulty expectations on both sides. If we stay on this trajectory, we will soon go off the cliff. The policy questions debated in Washington are too often about whether or not to wear a seatbelt. Instead, we ought to put our hands back on the wheel of diplomacy and steer toward an off-ramp before it is too late. To start, both sides need to reset their expectations, and begin a step-by-step de-escalation that could create the basis for a longer-term resolution.
U.S. Nuclear Bombs at Turkish Airbase Complicate Rift Over Syria Invasion
Julian Borger and Jennifer Rankin | Guardian
An estimated 50 nuclear bombs stored at a US airbase in Turkey have become potential bargaining chips in the tense relationship between Washington and Ankara in the wake of the Turkish offensive into Syria. Although Donald Trump gave a green light to the offensive in a phone call eight days ago with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the US Congress is planning to impose severe sanctions on Turkey. Trump, facing a backlash from his party for acquiescing in the invasion, has backed punitive measures. The presence of B61 nuclear gravity bombs at İncirlik airbase, which is about 100 miles from the Syrian border and which the US air force shares with its Turkish counterpart, is complicating Washington’s calculations. In recent days administration officials have been quietly reviewing plans to move the bombs, the New York Times reported on Monday. The report quoted a senior official as saying the bombs had become Erdoğan’s hostages and that flying them out of İncirlik would be the de-facto end of the Turkish-American alliance. Plans to remove the bombs have frequently been considered but never put into action.
Voting for BJP Means Dropping Nuclear Bomb on Pakistan: UP Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya
Press Trust of India | India Today
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya has said voting in favour of the BJP will mean “dropping of a nuclear bomb on Pakistan”. He said the upcoming Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly elections are crucial as these will be the first polls in the country after the abrogation of Article 370, which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. He was addressing a public gathering in support of BJP candidate Narendra Mehta from Mira Bhayander Assembly segment in Maharashtra's Thane district on Sunday night. “By pressing the lotus button (BJP's poll symbol), not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Narendra Mehta will be benefitted, but it will mean that a nuclear bomb will by itself get dropped on Pakistan,” Maurya said.
U.S. Ambassador: N. Korea Asked for ‘Everything’ While Offering Nothing
William Gallo | Voice of America
North Korea is demanding that the U.S. “do everything” before Pyongyang makes any concessions, Harry Harris, the U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, said in an interview published Monday. Harris’ comments to South Korea’s Dong-A-Ilbo newspaper are the first substantive reaction by a U.S. official since North Korea walked away from working-level nuclear talks late last week and blamed the U.S. for the breakdown. While noting he was not present at the negotiations held in the capital of Sweden, Harris suggested that North Korea, not the U.S., was to blame for the impasse. “In my view, North Korea demanded that the United States do everything before doing anything,” Harris was quoted as saying. He did not elaborate. North Korea has since threatened to resume long-range ballistic missile or nuclear tests and reiterated its end-of-year deadline for the U.S. to take a more flexible approach. In the interview, conducted Friday, Harris downplayed the importance of the deadline, calling it “artificially set” by North Korea
Russia Announces Massive Trans-Arctic Nuclear War Games
Thomas Nilsen | Barents Observer
Several areas in the Barents Sea are closed off making ready for ballistic missile shootings from submarines from October 15 to 17. Warnings are issued by Russia’s west Arctic seaports administration about which areas civilian ships have to stay away from over the next three days. Notified as rocket shootings is part of a major drill of the country’s strategic nuclear forces. The Defence Ministry in Moscow on Monday said the exercise will involve five submarines, 105 aircraft, 213 missile launchers and 12,000 troops. With missile test ranges both in the European Arctic and in the Far East mentioned, ballistic missiles would fly both ways across the Arctic. Likely, shootings could take place both from a Delta-IV class and a Borei-class in the Barents Sea with missiles targeted to the Kura test range. A missile launched the other way; from a Pacific Fleet submarine in the east, will hit the Chizha test range in the western Russian Arctic.
U.S. Concludes White Sea Radiation Explosion Came During Russian Nuclear-Missile Recovery
Mike Eckel | RFE/RL
A State Department official says the United States has concluded that a mysterious explosion that occurred at a Russian naval test range in the White Sea in August occurred amid an operation to recover a nuclear-powered missile that had apparently crashed during a test. “The United States has determined that the explosion…was the result of a nuclear reaction that occurred during the recovery of a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile,” U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Thomas G. DiNanno told a United Nations committee on October 10, according to prepared remarks. That conclusion bolsters earlier RFE/RL reporting about the blast at the Nyonoksa test range, which panicked and angered residents. It wasn’t immediately clear why the United States decided to publicly confirm its intelligence conclusions about the August 8 explosion now.