“Friendly” Nuclear Proliferation and its Discontents 

Toby Dalton | The Washington Quarterly

Today, some officials, politicians, and non-governmental analysts are again touting the potential merits of “friendly” proliferation in Washington and several allied capitals such as Seoul, Tokyo, or Warsaw, among others. The article begins with an examination of friendly proliferation in the context of the contemporary domestic and geopolitical drivers that are pushing the United States and its allies toward more transactional relationships. It explores the broad impacts on US security that would follow a decision to embrace US friends that acquire nuclear weapons. It then reverses the lens and assesses implications for US friends that might choose nuclear arms, to include consequences for the existing US alliance systems in Europe and Asia. Next, it evaluates the global effects of a full erosion of multilateral mechanisms to arrest proliferation that would result from abandonment of the nonproliferation system by the United States and its nuclear-arming friends. 

US strikes Iran city home to nuclear site 

Max Rego | The Hill  

The U.S. military on Tuesday struck the Iranian city of Isfahan, where one of the country’s main nuclear sites is located. The Isfahan Nuclear Energy Center was one of three facilities that U.S. B-2 bombers and a submarine hit last June. The Associated Press reported that analysts believe much of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is likely stored at the Isfahan site. President Trump also shared a video of the aftermath on his Truth Social platform, which shows flames billowing into the sky, as more missiles approached the area. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Tuesday at an early morning press briefing that U.S. forces bombed an ammunition depot in Isfahan.

Iran hardliners ramp up calls for a nuclear bomb, sources say 

Parisa Hafezi and Angus Mcdowall | Reuters 

The debate among Iranian hardliners over whether Tehran should seek a nuclear bomb in defiance of an escalating U.S.-Israeli attack is getting louder, more public and more insistent, sources in the country say. With the Revolutionary Guards now dominant following the killing of veteran Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the start of the war on February 28, hardline views on Iran's nuclear approach are ‌in the ascendant, two senior Iranian sources said.  

North Korea tests high-thrust engine in missile push 

Shakeel Sobhan | DW 

In his State of the Union address on February 24, President Donald Trump framed Iran’s nuclear activities as  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw a ground test of an upgraded high-thrust solid-fuel rocket engine, state media KCNA reported on Sunday, in the latest move to advance the country's strategic weapons program. ... The demonstration "showed the physical and technical ability they have prepared to be a-match-for-a hundred combatants with iron fists," KCNA said. Analysts say higher-thrust solid-fuel engines could support intercontinental ballistic missiles with longer ranges and faster launch times, making them harder to detect and capable of reaching the US mainland. 

The race to build new nuclear reactors — fast 

Chuck McCutcheon | Axios  

As nuclear energy industry deals pile up, executives are turning their focus to what many describe as a huge challenge: How to build multiple plants quickly. Nuclear energy is seen as critical to supplying enough power for AI data centers' massive electricity needs. And AI itself is being seen as part of the solution. ... At last week's CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, industry officials predicted that companies' willingness to try new approaches — particularly with AI — will speed things up. "It's much more of a Silicon Valley-type ecosystem than we've ever seen in this sector," John Kotek, the Nuclear Energy Institute's senior vice president of policy development and public affairs, told Axios. 

The misguided quest for nuclear weapons in Nordic countries 

Tytti Erästö, Vladislav Chernavskikh, Vitaly Fedchenko | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 

The eroding trust in US security commitments has contributed to a narrative calling for a stronger European nuclear deterrent independent of the United States. The debate has moved beyond the question of whether boosting nuclear deterrence is the most prudent way to address European security concerns and now centers on how to do so. This also applies to Nordic countries, where in recent months some have floated the ideas of new extended nuclear deterrence arrangements and even proliferation. ... Before trading one illusion of security for another, Nordic countries should check their threat perceptions against the risks posed by the spread of nuclear weapons in the region—an exercise that might reveal the real need is not for more deterrence but for a strategy to manage the associated escalation risks.