U.S. Still Hopes for Talks After Latest North Korean Missile Test
Josh Smith | Reuters
North Korea’s latest missile launches did not violate a pledge its leader Kim Jong Un made to U.S. President Donald Trump, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday, but efforts to resume denuclearisation talks remained in doubt. Kim oversaw the first test firing of a “new-type large-calibre multiple-launch guided rocket system” on Wednesday, North Korean state media reported. Wednesday’s test verified the combat effectiveness of the overall rocket system and Kim predicted “it would be an inescapable distress to the forces becoming a fat target of the weapon”, KCNA said. It said the rocket system would play a major role in ground military operations. Such operations would most likely be directed at South Korea. On Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he hoped talks would start soon, though he “regretted” that a highly anticipated meeting with North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho would not take place in Thailand this week. Britain, Germany and France have asked the U.N. Security Council to meet on Thursday to discuss the missile launches, diplomats said.
NATO Grapples With Collapse of Missile Treaty
James Marson | Wall Street Journal
The imminent collapse of a U.S.-Russia missile treaty is forcing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to grapple with a Russian missile system that can target Western European cities—without getting caught in an arms race. European heavyweights France and Germany and other allies have backed the U.S. plan to withdraw from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty on Friday unless Russia destroys missiles that the U.S. says violate the pact. Moscow has shown no sign of complying with the deadline. “We don’t want to escalate,” said a senior European diplomat at NATO. “But we need to show we are united and ready. We need to talk to Russia from a position of strength.” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said the 29-nation alliance wouldn’t seek to copy the Russian deployments by fielding its own land-based nuclear missiles. Measures under consideration include strengthening missile defenses, increasing training of military forces and involving warplanes and ships that can carry nuclear-capable missiles in exercises.
U.S. Senate Pushes Trump to Safeguard Last Russian Nuclear Arms Control Treaty
Julian Borger | Guardian
Bipartisan Senate legislation introduced on Wednesday aims to change the administration’s course on nuclear arms control, urging Donald Trump to extend the New Start treaty with Russia or provide justification for allowing it to expire. New legislation introduced on Wednesday by Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, and Republican Senator Todd Young, seeks to insert Congress into nuclear decision-making as a counterweight to hawks like Bolton. The bill, seen by the Guardian, calls for New Start to be extended until 2026 unless Russia can be shown to be in material breach of the treaty, or a new agreement is signed which “provides equal or greater constraints, transparency, and verification measures”. The administration has insisted it is conducting an inter-agency review of New Start, but arms control advocates fear that Bolton and other hawks are running out the clock on the treaty, with no intention of extending or replacing it.
U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Seeks Fast Choice of New Head
Reuters
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog wants to appoint a new director general in October, shortening its selection process at a time of dangerous geopolitical frictions between Iran and the West. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano died last month, requiring a new leader at a time of global anxiety over the implications of last year’s U.S. pullout of a 2015 deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme. The 35-nation board of governors last week named Romanian diplomat Cornel Feruta to head the agency temporarily. Applications for the permanent post must be in by Sept. 5, the IAEA said on Thursday. “The Board expects to appoint a Director General in October 2019 and, in any case, envisages that the person appointed will assume office no later than 1 January 2020,” it said. That is an ambitious schedule for the 171-nation agency, which normally needs several months to agree on a candidate.
Forty-two Countries Seek Common Ground at the Creating an Environment for Nuclear Disarmament (CEND) Working Group Kick-off Plenary Meeting
U.S. Department of State
Representatives from 42 countries met at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC, from July 2-3 to deliberate on ways to address challenges in the security environment that would improve prospects for disarmament negotiations. The CEND Working Group (CEWG) kick-off plenary meeting marked the first official gathering of participants in the CEND initiative. The 97 CEWG participants sought to identify ways to improve the international security environment in order to overcome obstacles to further progress on nuclear disarmament. The format of these discussions was purposely informal – designed to go beyond the prepared statements typical in other multilateral disarmament forums and to produce more in-depth and interactive exchanges.
Team Trump Turns to Lindsay Graham to Cut an Iran Deal
Erin Banco and Asawin Suebsaeng | Daily Beast
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is working in close coordination with senior Trump administration officials who focus on Middle East policy to find an alternative to the Obama administration’s Iran deal, four people with knowledge of the efforts tell The Daily Beast. Part of that effort includes fielding ideas from outside actors, including foreign officials, two of those sources said. In an interview with The Daily Beast on Wednesday, Graham said he had spoken to Trump about his ideas for a new nuclear deal several times and that the president was contemplating them. The senator said the U.S. should ask the Iranian regime to agree to a so-called 123 Agreement—a key, legally binding commitment that requires countries doing nuclear deals with the U.S. to sign on to nonproliferation standards.