U.S. Asks UN’s Highest Court to Dismiss Sanctions Case by Iran
Al Jazeera
Lawyers for the United States on Monday asked judges at the United Nations' highest court to dismiss a case brought by Iran seeking to lift sanctions. Lawyer Marik String said Iran had wrongly introduced a subject uncovered by a 1955 bilateral pact, the Treaty of Amity, which Tehran cites as the basis for going to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court. It was “an inescapable reality”, he added, that the real aim of Iran's legal suit is to restore a 2015 nuclear pact opposed by the administration of President Donald Trump. “The measures Iran challenges remain critical to the United States' efforts to address national security threats posed by Iran including the current threat posed by its nuclear programme,” String added. Washington imposed the measures when it abandoned the 2015 pact aimed preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
IAEA in Wide-Ranging Talks With Saudi Arabia on Tougher Nuclear Checks
Reuters
The UN nuclear watchdog is in wide-ranging talks with Saudi Arabia about tougher supervision of the kingdom’s nuclear activities, the agency said on Monday, part of a wider effort to eliminate a “weakness” in the global inspections regime. Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear programme that it wants to expand to eventually include proliferation-sensitive uranium enrichment. It is unclear where its ambitions end, since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in 2018 it would develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran did. Riyadh has yet to fire up its first nuclear reactor, allowing its programme to still be monitored under the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP), an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that exempts less advanced states from many reporting obligations and inspections. “We are in conversation with them. They are interested in developing nuclear energy, for peaceful purposes of course,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said when asked about verification in Saudi Arabia.
China’s Nuclear Arms Buildup ‘Inconsistent’ With No-First-Use Policy, Stratcom Chief Says
Abraham Mahshie | Washington Examiner
China’s nuclear weapons buildup is “inconsistent” with a declared no-first-use policy, making American nuclear modernization efforts more urgent, U.S. Strategic Command’s Adm. Charles Richard said Monday. “It's not where they are, it's where they're going,” the combatant commander told Pentagon reporters, warning that China intends to double its nuclear warheads by 2030. “When China sets its mind to something, they are very impressive in their ability to go accomplish it,” he said. “We're going to have to move equally as fast in order to pace that threat.” Nuclear modernization figures prominently in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Differing versions have passed both houses of Congress and await reconciliation.
South Korea Says No Use of Nuclear Weapons in Joint Operational Plans With U.S.
Reuters
South Korea said on Tuesday none of its joint military action plans with the United States include any use of nuclear weapons, after a book by a U.S. journalist sparked debate over whether scenarios of a full-blown war with North Korea would entail a nuclear attack from either side. In his new book, titled “Rage,” Washington Post associate editor Bob Woodward wrote that the United States had devised plans for a possible armed clash with North Korea, such as “the U.S. response to an attack that could include the use of 80 nuclear weapons.” The book was based on multiple interviews with U.S. President Donald Trump. The passage fuelled debate in South Korea over whether it meant Washington or Pyongyang would detonate 80 bombs against each other. Seoul’s defence ministry said on Tuesday its joint operational plans (OPLAN) with the United States did not include any use of nuclear weapons, reiterating the view of the presidential office.
Iran Can Now Enrich Stable Isotopes, Country's Atomic Agency Claims
Darragh Roche | Newsweek
Iran has developed the technology to enrich stable isotopes of elements other than uranium, according to the country's atomic energy agency. The country claimed late last year that it could enrich isotopes without help from Russia. Ali Akbar Salehi, Director of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), said the country's scientists had “mastered” stable isotope enrichment and had the software necessary to do so. “We have acquired the science of stable isotope enrichment and its related technology,” Salehi said, according to Iran's state-controlled Press TV. “Our engineers and technicians have developed sophisticated software, one of which, for instance, consists of 300,000 lines of programming. Iranian experts are also in charge of designing arrangement of enrichment cascades for stable isotopes.”
Japan Struggles to Secure Radioactive Nuclear Waste Dump Sites
Thisanka Siripala | Diplomat
Japan’s worsening depopulation crisis is crippling the public finances of regional towns. Now one small town has made national headlines after expressing interest in storing radioactive nuclear waste underground in a last ditch effort to save itself from impending bankruptcy. The small town of Suttsu in Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of Japan, has a population of just under 3,000 people. It’s the first local municipality to volunteer for the permanent storage site of highly radioactive nuclear waste and nuclear spent fuel. Suttsu Mayor Kataoka Haruo says the town has no more than 10 years left to find new sources of income after struggling with a slump in sales of seafood due to the global coronavirus pandemic.