North Korea Is Looking to Build Trust, South Korea’s Moon Says
Andrew Jeong | Wall Street Journal
South Korean President Moon Jae-in played down concerns that North Korea is reneging on its pledges to dismantle its nuclear-weapons program, in his first public response to Pyongyang’s statement last week that its will to denuclearize had been shaken.
Crisis in U.S. Nuclear Talks With Pyongyang Not China’s Doing, Experts Say
Keith Johnson | Foreign Policy
President Donald Trump has suggested that China might be to blame for an apparent crisis in nuclear talks between the United States and North Korea—arguing that Beijing could be undermining the agreement because of anger over the escalating trade war with the United States. But experts believe it’s Trump’s own mishandling of the talks that has caused the disarray.
Trump, Putin May Agree to Resume Stalled Arms Control Talks
Arshad Mohammed | Reuters
When Trump and Putin meet in Helsinki on Monday they are likely to touch on whether to extend New Start to 2026 and what to do about another pact, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) to try to dampen a high-risk nuclear rivalry between the two former Cold War foes.
U.S. Said to Meet Saudi Leaders to Discuss Iran Oil Sanctions
Nick Wadhams | Bloomberg
U.S. government teams spent three days in Saudi Arabia discussing ways to cut off money flows to Iran without disrupting energy markets as Washington presses nations to stop buying Iranian oil by Nov. 4, a senior State Department official said.
India Cuts Iranian Oil Imports in June Ahead of U.S. Sanctions
Nidhi Verma and Sai Sachin Ravikumar | Reuters
Indian refiners cut imports of Iranian oil last month as they started weaning their plants off crude from the country to avoid sanctions by the United States that are set to take effect in November. The government of India, Iran’s top oil client after China, asked refiners last month to prepare for drastic reductions or even zero Iranian oil imports.
Pentagon Report Slams New U.S. Strategic Command Headquarters Construction
Geoff Ziezulewicz | Military Times
Efforts to build a new home for the keepers of America’s nuclear arsenal has been bedeviled by cost overruns, design problems, mold and fire that has delayed opening of the new headquarters by more than two years, according to a May report by the Defense Department’s Inspector General.