Edition

Proliferation News 7/29/25

IN THIS ISSUE: There’s More Than One Way to Build a Bomb, Iran Started New Talks Over Its Nuclear Program. Here’s What to Know, North Korea suggests talks with US possible if ‘denuclearization’ demand dropped, Trump says he wants to maintain nuclear limits with Russia, IAEA will visit Iran in next two weeks, Iranian foreign ministry says, Australia, Britain sign 50-year AUKUS submarine partnership treaty.

Published on July 29, 2025

James M. Acton | Foreign Policy

Immediately after the United States attacked Iranian nuclear facilities on June 21, President Donald Trump declared the operation a “spectacular military success.” Since then, his administration has been searching for ways to back up this statement. It has settled on the argument, apparently advanced by a new classified intelligence assessment, that Iran would need “years” to rebuild the facilities hit last month. This claim has the advantage of being true—but it is also disingenuous. Iran does not need to rebuild its previous nuclear program to build the bomb.


Steven Erlanger | The New York Times

European diplomats met with Iran’s deputy foreign minister in Istanbul on Friday to try to restart negotiations on limiting or eliminating Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and pledged to keep talking… Little emerged from Friday’s meeting, which did not include foreign ministers. But some deadlines are looming, and both sides said talks would continue. The Europeans have said that they will move to restore sanctions by the end of August if Iran does not respond with a serious effort at a new deal.

           

Colin Zwirko | NK News

Renewed dialogue with the U.S. is possible if Washington drops its demand for “denuclearization” and accepts North Korea’s nuclear weapons capabilities, the DPRK leader’s sister Kim Yo Jong said via state media on Tuesday. Kim stated that “the personal relationship between the head of our state and the present U.S. president is not bad…” But she said the chance for restarting dialogue will remain “only a ‘hope’ of the U.S.” if it continues to demand denuclearization, citing reports over the weekend that the White House was still demanding Pyongyang’s “complete” nuclear disarmament.


Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would like to maintain the limits on U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear weapons deployments set in the 2010 New START agreement, which expires in February. "That's not an agreement you want expiring. We're starting to work on that," Trump told reporters as he exited the White House on a trip to Scotland. It was the first time since taking office that Trump has said he wants to maintain the treaty's limits on strategic nuclear weapons deployments when it expires on February 5.


Reuters

The U.N. nuclear watchdog will make a visit to Iran within the next two weeks, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday, a few days after the watchdog's director said Tehran was ready to restart technical conversations. Baghaei added that a manual regarding the future of Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency will be presented, based on a recent parliamentary bill restricting such cooperation.


Reuters

Australia's government said on Saturday it signed a treaty with Britain to bolster cooperation over the next 50 years on the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership… Defence Minister Richard Marles said in a statement that the bilateral treaty was signed with Britain's Defence Secretary John Healey on Saturday after a meeting in the city of Geelong, in Victoria state. "The Geelong Treaty will enable comprehensive cooperation on the design, build, operation, sustainment, and disposal of our SSN-AUKUS submarines," the statement said.

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