Scoop: U.S. and Russia agree to observe New START nuclear pact after expiration

Barak Ravid, Dave Lawler, Marc Caputo, Colin Demarest | Axios

The U.S. and Russia are closing in on a deal to continue to observe the expiring New START arms control treaty beyond its expiration on Thursday, three sources familiar with those talks tell Axios. Two of the sources cautioned that the draft plan still needed approval from both presidents. An additional source confirmed that negotiations had been taking place over the past 24 hours in Abu Dhabi, but not that an agreement had been reached.

Trump says he won’t extend nuclear arms treaty with Russia

Jack Detsch | Politico

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he will let the last arms control treaty between Russia and the United States lapse and instead direct his administration to work toward a new one… “Rather than extend “NEW START” (A badly negotiated deal by the United States that, aside from everything else, is being grossly violated), we should have our Nuclear Experts work on a new, improved, and modernized Treaty that can last long into the future,” he said in the post.

A half-century of US-Russian arms control ends with the expiration of the New START nuclear pact

Vladimir Isachenkov | AP News

The Kremlin said Thursday it regretted the expiration of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States that left no caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. Arms control experts say the termination of the New START Treaty could set the stage for an unconstrained nuclear arms race… With the end of the treaty, Moscow “remains ready to take decisive military-technical measures to counter potential additional threats to the national security,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

U.S.-Iran nuclear talks back on after Arab leaders lobby White House

Barak Ravid | Axios

Plans for U.S.-Iran nuclear talks on Friday are back on, after several Middle Eastern leaders urgently lobbied the Trump administration on Wednesday afternoon not to follow through on threats to walk away, two U.S. officials told Axios. The standoff had sparked fears across the Middle East that President Trump would pivot to military action. At least nine countries from the region reached out to the White House at the highest levels strongly urging the U.S. not to cancel the meeting.

Trump’s Greenland gambit pushes Europe to look to its own nuclear arsenals

Laura Kayali and Victor Jack | Politico Pro

European countries that spent decades sheltering under America’s nuclear umbrella are now openly discussing a new form of protective alliance against Russia built around French and possibly British atomic weapons. It’s a direct response to Donald Trump eroding confidence in NATO’s Article 5 common defense pledge by trashing allies, questioning U.S. commitments and turbocharging doubts with threats to seize Greenland.

A new nuclear arms race is in the offing

The Economist

Robert Oppenheimer, the father of America’s nuclear bomb, described his country’s atomic rivalry with the Soviet Union as “two scorpions in a bottle”. The risks of this stand-off have been contained over the years by various arms-control agreements, most recently New START. But that treaty expired this week, with no replacement. To make matters more dangerous, these days there is a third scorpion in the bottle: China. Its nuclear build-up, the world’s fastest since the height of the cold war, is likely to prompt America to expand its arsenal, too. A new arms race is in the offing.