UN Nuclear Watchdog: Iran Producing More Uranium Metal
David Rising | Associated Press
Iran continues to produce uranium metal, which can be used in the production of a nuclear bomb, the United Nation’s atomic watchdog confirmed Tuesday, in a move that further complicates the possibility of reviving a landmark 2015 deal with world powers on the Iranian nuclear program. In a report issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to member nations, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said that his inspectors had confirmed on Saturday that Iran had now produced 200 grams of uranium metal enriched up to 20%. Grossi had previously reported in February that his inspectors had confirmed that a small amount of uranium metal, 3.6 grams, had been produced at Iran’s Isfahan plant.
PLA Likely Begins Construction of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Silo Site Near Hanggin Banner
Rod Lee | Air University
By mid-May 2021, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) likely began construction of a potential intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silo site in Hanggin Banner, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia (approximately at 40.113, 108.104). Images taken by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 mission between 16 May and 9 August 2021 reveal a construction footprint similar to those found at known PLA ICBM silo construction sites at Jilantai, Guazhou (typically referred to as the Yumen site), and Hami. Unlike the Guazhou ICBM silo site, there is no publicly known PLA Rocket Force (PLARF) unit in the vicinity of Hanggin Banner. However, the similarities in construction footprint in terms of spacing, excavation patterns, and use of dome shelters, as well as the general trend of rapid growth in PLA Rocket Force (PLARF) fixed systems suggest that the construction site at Hanggin Banner is likely an ICBM silo site.
The Real Lessons of the Trump-Kim Love Letters
Robert L. Carlin | Foreign Policy
There is probably no other bilateral relationship today where letter writing between two countries’ leaders has played such a dramatic role as that between North Korea and the United States. The 27 letters exchanged between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-U.S. President Donald Trump between April 2018 and August 2019—characterized as “beautiful letters” by Trump—contained tactical feints, unctuous flattery, and psychological ploys that have marked exchanges of leaders of all stripes and stations throughout history. In this case, they also contained the core perceptions and misperceptions of how each thought to move—and move the other—from decades of U.S.-North Korean hostility to something approaching more normal or at least stable relations between their two vastly different countries.
Pakistan Successfully Test-Fires Surface-to-Surface Ballistic Missile Ghaznavi
Navneed Siddiqui | Dawn
Pakistan on Thursday conducted a successful training launch of surface-to-surface nuclear-capable ballistic missile Ghaznavi, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said. According to a statement, the training launch was aimed at ensuring operational readiness of Army Strategic Forces Command (ASFC) and re-validating technical parameters of the weapon system. As per the military’s media wing, missile Ghaznavi is capable of delivering multiple types of warheads up to a range of 290 kilometres.
S. Korea, U.S. to Kick Off Scaled-Back Combined Exercise This Week
Choi Soo-hyang | Yonhap News Agency
South Korea and the United States will kick off a major summertime combined exercise in a scaled-back manner on Monday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced, after North Korea vowed to punish the two countries when they started a preliminary training last week. The nine-day computer-simulated Combined Command Post Training will not include outdoor drills, and the size of troops involved will be minimized in consideration of the virus situation, the JCS said in a statement. The decision to go ahead with the exercise was made in consideration of “the COVID-19 situation, the maintenance of the combined defense posture and the diplomatic efforts for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the establishment of peace,” the JCS said.