Putin Calls for Resuming Production of Intermediate Missiles After Scrapping of Treaty with US

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday called for resuming production of intermediate-range missiles that were banned under a now-scrapped treaty with the United States...“We need to start production of these strike systems and then, based on the actual situation, make decisions about where — if necessary to ensure our safety — to place them,” Putin said at a meeting of Russia’s national security council.

Iran Installs Half of Planned New Centrifuges at Fordow, IAEA Report Says

Francois Murphy | Reuters 

Iran has installed half the advanced uranium-enriching machines it said earlier this month it would quickly add to its Fordow site dug into a mountain but has not yet brought them online, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a report seen by Reuters. Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency two weeks ago it would rapidly expand its enrichment capacity at Fordow by adding eight cascades, or clusters, of IR-6 centrifuges at Fordow within three to four weeks.

North Korea Test-launches 2 Ballistic Missiles, After End of New US-South Korea-Japan Drill

HYUNG-JIN KIM | Associated Press 

North Korea test-fired two ballistic missile Monday but one of them possibly flew abnormally, South Korea’s military said, a day after the North vowed “offensive and overwhelming” responses to a new U.S. military drill with South Korea and Japan. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement the missiles were launched 10 minutes apart in a northeasterly direction from the town of Jangyon in southeastern North Korea. It said the first missile flew 600 kilometers (370 miles) and the second missile 120 kilometers (75 miles), but didn’t say where they landed. North Korea typically test-fires missiles toward its eastern waters, but the second missile’s flight distance was too short to reach those waters.

Turkey, US in Talks on Nuclear Plant Projects, Turkish Official Says

Can Sezer | Reuters 

Turkey is holding talks with the United States on the construction of large-scale nuclear power plants and small modular reactors (SMR), a senior Turkish Energy Ministry official said on Tuesday. "The USA is showing serious interest in Turkey's goal of increasing its nuclear energy capacity and building new power plants," the official Yusuf Ceylan told Reuters at a conference on nuclear power plants.Asked about the projects under discussion, he said: "We can consider the areas of existing power plants or new power plants." "We are negotiating with the USA for both large-scale power plants and small modular reactors. This is a statement of intent," he said.

Tech Industry Wants to Lock Up Nuclear Power for AI

Jennifer Hiller and Sebastian Herrera | The Wall Street Journal 

Tech companies scouring the country for electricity supplies have zeroed in on a key target: America’s nuclear-power plants. The owners of roughly a third of U.S. nuclear-power plants are in talks with tech companies to provide electricity to new data centers needed to meet the demands of an artificial-intelligence boom.

Photo Depicts Potential Nuclear Mission For Pakistan’s JF-17 Aircraft

Eliana Johns | Federation of American Scientists 

During rehearsals for the 2023 Pakistan Day Parade (which was subsequently canceled), an image surfaced of a JF-17 Thunder Block II carrying what was reported to be a Ra’ad ALCM. Notably, this was the first time such a configuration had been observed in public…FAS was able to purchase the original image. To try and ascertain which type of Ra’ad is in the JF-17 image–the original Ra’ad-I or the extended-range Ra’ad-II–we compared it to other Ra’ad-I and -II missiles displayed in the 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2024 Pakistan Day Parades (the parades in 2020 and 2023 were canceled) where the Ra’ad-I and Ra’ad-II were showcased alongside other nuclear-capable missiles such as the Nasr, Ghauri, Shaheen-IA and -II, as well as the Babur-1A.