U.S., E.U. Lift Sanctions Against Iran Amid Landmark Nuke Deal
George Jahn and Bradley Klapper | Associated Press
The U.N. nuclear agency certified Saturday that Iran has met all of its commitments under last summer's landmark nuclear deal, crowning years of U.S.-led efforts to crimp Iran's ability to make atomic weapons. For Iran, the move lifts Western economic sanctions that have been in place for years, unlocking access to $100 billion in frozen assets and unleashing new opportunities for its battered economy. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and the top diplomats of Iran and the European Union hailed the accord, reached after years of setbacks and a full decade after the start of international diplomacy aimed at reducing the possibility that Tehran could turn its nuclear programs to weapons making.
Iran Condemns New U.S. Sanctions Over Missile Test
BBC
The sanctions had "no legal or moral legitimacy", a foreign ministry spokesman said. The new US move came just a day after international sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme were lifted. The head of the world's nuclear watchdog, visiting Tehran, says Iran has agreed to further strengthen its co-operation with his organisation.
For Iran, a Nuclear Option More Trouble Than It Was Worth
Siegfried S. Hecker | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
On Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had met its initial nuclear rollback obligations under the country’s historic agreement with six world powers. This triggered long-sought sanctions relief, the chief reason the country had accepted the onerous restrictions and intrusive inspections prescribed by the nuclear deal.
Jeremy Corbyn Hints at No-Nuke Subs in Trident Compromise
Guardian
Jeremy Corbyn has suggested the UK could have Trident submarines without nuclear weapons, a move that would mean disarmament while protecting defence jobs in Scotland and Cumbria.
The Labour leader raised the idea on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show as a possible compromise between his opposition to nuclear weapons and the position of the trade unions, which want to protect the jobs of workers who will build replacement Trident submarines.
North Korea Says it Could Halt Nuke Tests if U.S. Scraps Drills
Tong-Hyung Kim | Associated Press
North Korea said it could stop nuclear tests in exchange for the U.S. scrapping joint military drills with South Korea, while also calling for a peace treaty with the U.S. in an echo of demands that were rejected by Washington in the past. The U.S. has previously called the North's linking the military drills with its nuclear tests an "an implicit threat" and demanded that Pyongyang first demonstrate its sincerity to nuclear disarmament. An unnamed spokesman of the North's Foreign Ministry called the purported hydrogen bomb test on Jan. 6 a justifiable move to ensure its survival against external threats.
View From the Inside: Prince Turki al-Faisal on Saudi Arabia, Nuclear Energy and Weapons, and Middle East Politics
Dan Drollette Jr | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Turki al-Faisal has long had access to some of the innermost circles of power in Saudi Arabia. Born into the Saudi royal family – out of the extended clan’s estimated thousand or so members, he is number eight – the prince was head of the country’s intelligence agency for more than two decades before becoming an ambassador to several countries. In this interview, al-Faisal talks with the Bulletin’s Dan Drollette Jr. about the Saudi view of the Iran agreement, nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and the possibility of Saudi Arabia becoming a net energy importer in the coming decades – and what the country wants to do to counter that prospect. He also delves into recent politics, and gives his personal views on the Shia/Sunni divide, Israel’s weapons program, and the Iran regime.