Trump's North Korea overture triggers fears for US alliances

Julian Ryall | DW

US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he had instructed the Pentagon to limit the scale of US involvement in military exercises with South Korean units planned for this week, causing alarm among South Koreans and experts concerned at the deteriorating security situation in Northeast Asia.  In a social media post, Trump said he had ordered the US to "substantially reduce" its involvement, claiming the exercises were "expensive."  Trump added that US involvement in the exercises would send a "signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, which he said has been "unthreatening and respectful" to his presidency.  

How a False Nuclear Claim About Iran Ricocheted From India to Washington

Steven Lee Myers, Ronen Bergman, and Farnaz Fassihi | New York Times

On the morning of Aug. 5, an anonymous account on X in India posted seemingly sensational news. The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had vowed that his country would never give up its nuclear weapon ambitions as long as Israel and the United States possessed those weapons, the account said.  It was not true, and there’s no evidence that the commander made the remark or that Iran has developed nuclear weapons. The claim soon caromed around the internet anyway.

'Tons' of nuclear materials found at undisclosed Syrian site, IAEA chief says

France 24 | August 18, 2026

UN nuclear watchdog head Rafael Grossi said Tuesday that his agency had found several "tons of nuclear materials" at a previously undeclared site dating from the rule of Syria's previous authorities. Syria's Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said the material was not dangerous and that Damascus had the right to keep and use it for peaceful purposes. Grossi said the ​agency was able to ​access the site after the Syrian government notified it. Syria ​is not known to hold operational stockpiles of nuclear material for a weapons programme, but Israel bombed a ⁠suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007 in the ⁠country's ​eastern province of Deir al-Zor.

Hungary opens sluice and sinks barges to protect nuclear plant as Danube levels fall

Rita Konya | Euronews

Emergency engineering work is under way as authorities brace for a further sharp drop in river levels before conditions are expected to improve later this week. Water is being diverted into the Danube in Hungary and barges are being deliberately sunk in an effort to raise critically low river levels and prevent another shutdown at the country’s Paks Nuclear Power Plant.

Short sellers reap $2bn profit as modular nuclear reactor stocks tumble

Ramsay Hodgson | Financial Times

Short sellers have reaped large profits from betting against small modular nuclear reactor companies, as the collapse of the “hype cycle” that had sent their share prices soaring wipes billions off their market value. Funds made an estimated $2.1bn shorting three stocks — US-listed NuScale Power, Nano Nuclear and Sam Altman-backed Oklo — over the past year, according to data provider S3 Partners.

From Nuclear Threshold to Nuclear Weapons? Reassessing Iran's Nuclear Doctrine

Raz Zimmt | The Institute for National Security Studies

For decades, the Islamic Republic strove to achieve nuclear threshold capability while refraining from actually developing nuclear weapons, based on the view that such a capability provides deterrence without exposing Iran to the costs associated with a nuclear breakout. However, developments since October 2023 [have] … strengthened calls to reassess its nuclear doctrine. This article examines the debate underway in Iran over this issue and its potential implications for its nuclear policy, based on the assumption that understanding the internal discourse in Tehran is essential for assessing the future trajectory of the nuclear program and for shaping Israel’s policy for confronting it.