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Pentagon Sees “Increased Potential” for Nuclear Conflict

IN THIS ISSUE: Pentagon Sees “Increased Potential” for Nuclear Conflict, South Korea’s Mysterious Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Tested From Underwater Platform: Report, Iran Gives IAEA Notice on Escalating Uranium Metal Work, Iran Accuses Israel of June Attack on Civilian Nuclear Site, Iran’s Sole Nuclear Power Plant Up and Running After Closure, NPT Review Delayed Again, Biden Taps Lawyer Mallory Stewart for U.S. Arms Control Post

Published on July 6, 2021

Pentagon Sees “Increased Potential” for Nuclear Conflict

Federation of American Scientists 

The possibility that nuclear weapons could be used in regional or global conflicts is growing, said a newly disclosed Pentagon doctrinal publication on nuclear war fighting that was updated last year. “Despite concerted US efforts to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in international affairs and to negotiate reductions in the number of nuclear weapons, since 2010 no potential adversary has reduced either the role of nuclear weapons in its national security strategy or the number of nuclear weapons it fields. Rather, they have moved decidedly in the opposite direction,” the Department of Defense document said.

South Korea’s Mysterious Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile Tested From Underwater Platform: Report

Thomas Newdick | The Drive

South Korea has apparently joined an elite group of military powers to have successfully developed a practical submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM. Although details remain scarce, local media report that a waterborne test of the missile was successful. Should Seoul now progress to fielding an operational SLBM capability on its submarine fleet, it will notably become the only non-nuclear-armed nation to introduce this type of weapon. 

Iran Gives IAEA Notice on Escalating Uranium Metal Work

Francois Murphy | Reuters

Iran has given notice of concrete steps to produce uranium metal enriched to up to 20% purity for reactor fuel, the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Tuesday, describing a move that is likely to anger Western powers in talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal. Iran has been in indirect talks with the United States since April to revive the 2015 deal, which former U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned. The deal imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions, and after Trump withdrew, Iran began violating many of its restrictions.

Iran Accuses Israel of June Attack on Civilian Nuclear Site

Isabel Debre and Nasser Karimi | Associated Press

Iran accused Israel on Tuesday of mounting a sabotage attack on a nuclear facility near Tehran last month, the country’s state-run news agency reported as authorities acknowledged for the first time that the mysterious assault had caused structural damage to the site. Authorities announced in late June that they had prevented saboteurs from attacking a site located in Karaj, a city about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northwest of the Iranian capital. They gave no details about what the targeted building belonging to the Iran’s Atomic Energy Agency contained, or how it was targeted.

Iran’s Sole Nuclear Power Plant Up and Running After Closure

Associated Press

Iran’s sole nuclear power plant is back online following an emergency shutdown two weeks ago, state TV reported Saturday. The report quoted Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, spokesperson for the country’s energy ministry, as saying the Bushehr plant “returned to the production of energy” after the completion of needed maintenance. Mashhadi did not elaborate but last week, Iran’s nuclear department said engineers were working to repair the plant’s broken generator.

NPT Review Delayed Again

Daryl G. Kimball | Arms Control Today

The pivotal 10th review conference of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) has been postponed again, until sometime in 2022, according to multiple diplomatic sources. The meeting, which typically occurs every five years and involves hundreds of representatives from most of the 191 states-parties to the treaty, was originally set to begin in April 2020 at UN headquarters in New York. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 led to an initial decision to reschedule until “no later than April 2021.” (See ACT, April 2020.) In October 2020, conference president-designate Gustavo Zlauvinen announced that states-parties decided to postpone again, until August 2021.

Biden Taps Lawyer Mallory Stewart for U.S. Arms Control Post

Arshad Mohammed | Reuters

President Joe Biden said on Friday he planned to nominate Mallory Stewart to be assistant secretary of state for arms control, a key job as Washington and Moscow contemplate a successor to the New START arms control treaty. If confirmed by the Senate, Stewart, now a senior director on the White House National Security Council, would lead the State Department's bureau of arms control, verification and compliance, the White House said in a statement.

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