U.S. to Slap Sanctions on Over Two Dozen Targets Tied to Iran Arms
Steve Holland and Arshad Mohammed | Reuters
The United States on Monday will sanction more than two dozen people and entities involved in Iran’s nuclear, missile and conventional arms programs, a senior U.S. official said, putting teeth behind U.N. sanctions on Tehran that Washington argues have resumed despite the opposition of allies and adversaries. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said Iran could have enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon by the end of the year and that Tehran has resumed long-range missile cooperation with nuclear-armed North Korea. He did not provide detailed evidence regarding either assertion. The new sanctions fit into U.S. President Donald Trump’s effort to limit Iran’s regional influence and come a week after U.S.-brokered deals for the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to normalize ties with Israel, pacts that may coalesce a wider coalition against Iran while appealing to pro-Israel U.S. voters ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
U.S. Seeks to Pressure Russia Into Nuclear Weapons Treaty Concessions Before Election
Kylie Atwood | CNN
The Trump administration is threatening Russia that they could increase the cost of extending the one remaining nuclear weapons treaty between the two countries if Moscow does not commit to meeting US demands, including agreeing to stronger verification measures, before the American presidential election in November. The two countries have spent months negotiating over the renewal of the New START nuclear weapons treaty. Moscow has said it is open to renewing it for five years, while the Trump administration is seeking a new framework and will only renew the treaty if Russia makes additional commitments. “What we have suggested to the Russians in terms of the way ahead is -- in our view precisely that the Russians have a choice to make,” Marshall Billingslea, the top Trump administration nuclear negotiator, told CNN. “But they may find the price of admission goes up after November."
Biden Would Push for Less U.S. Reliance on Nukes for Defense
Robert Burns | Associated Press
Democrat Joe Biden leaves little doubt that if elected he would try to scale back President Donald Trump’s buildup in nuclear weapons spending. And although the former vice president has not fully detailed his nuclear priorities, he says he would make the U.S. less reliant on the world’s deadliest weapons. The two candidates’ views on nuclear weapons policy and strategy carry unusual significance in this election because the United States is at a turning point in deciding the future of its weapons arsenal and because of growing debate about the threat posed by Chinese and Russian nuclear advances.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov’s Interview With the Newspaper Kommersant (English Translation)
Elena Chernenko | Kommersant
Question: U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea has said that they offered Russia a good deal and if Russia accepts it, Washington would agree to extend the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), which will expire in February 2021. Is there anything positive for Russia in the U.S. offer? Sergey Ryabkov: It would certainly be a good deal for the United States itself. Ambassador Billingslea is right in this sense. As for Russia, there are no grounds for making any deal in the format proposed by our Washington colleagues. We believe that the three points advanced by the United States as preconditions for extending the New START are too far-reaching and do not include any positive elements. The offer made by the Americans does not look like a good deal.
Energy Dept. Officials are ‘Trying to Undermine’ Nuclear Weapons Agency, Inhofe Alleges
Aaron Mehta | Defense News
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday accused officials from the Department of Energy of performing as “rogue actors” who aim to “undermine” the agency in charge of managing nuclear warheads, which in turn could damage the Pentagon’s nuclear modernization plans. In his opening comments, Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., cast Thursday’s committee hearing on nuclear weapons as an existential one for the National Nuclear Security Administration. “Arguably, this could go down as one of the most significant hearings we’ve ever had,” he said. “I’ve been given information that individuals from the Department of Energy have worked behind the scenes with the House Democrats on ill-advised legislation,” including adding bureaucracy to the Nuclear Weapons Council, prohibiting cooperation between NNSA and the council, and subsuming NNSA into the DOE, Inhofe added.
Former World Leaders Urge Ratification of Nuclear Arms Ban Treaty
Rick Gladstone | New York Times
Fifty-six former prime ministers, presidents, foreign ministers and defense ministers from 20 NATO countries, plus Japan and South Korea, released an open letter Sunday imploring their current leaders to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, the pact negotiated in 2017 that is now just six ratifications shy of the 50 needed to take effect. The letter, released on the eve of the United Nations 75th anniversary commemoration at the annual General Assembly, asserted that the risks of nuclear-weapons use have escalated in recent years “whether by accident, miscalculation or design.” Pointing to the coronavirus pandemic — which U.N. officials have called the greatest challenge in the organization’s history — the letter writers said, “We must not sleepwalk into a crisis of even greater proportions than the one we have experienced this year.”