Why Was Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Assassinated?
George Perkovich | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The assassination last Friday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the leader of Iran’s suspended program to develop nuclear weapon capabilities, was less about preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons than it was about embarrassing the current Iranian government and impeding it from negotiating a rapprochement with U.S. President-elect Joe Biden’s incoming administration. Even a partial detente would require, above all, a mutual return to something like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the nuclear deal that Iran agreed to in 2015. That agreement, notwithstanding its necessarily negotiated compromises, had verifiably suspended the most alarming nuclear activities in Iran, which again must be the top priority of any feasible U.S. policy toward Tehran.
Can North Korea Control Its Nuclear Weapons?
Ankit Panda | Wall Street Journal
As Americans mark Thanksgiving this year amid the pandemic, North Korea will be recalling a special anniversary of its own. On Nov. 28, 2017, dictator Kim Jong Un oversaw the launch of the largest missile ever flight-tested by the world’s last Stalinist country. Called the Hwasong (or “Mars”) 15, the missile showed that North Korea is capable of striking any part of the continental U.S.—from Los Angeles to New York—with a thermonuclear weapon. The North Korean regime celebrates the test date as a “revolution,” among the third Kim’s greatest accomplishments. The launch was even commemorated with a monument, featuring a poem devoted to “the eternal and immortal achievement that has borne great power.” Today Mr. Kim faces a range of problems, including severe economic sanctions, a spate of natural disasters and the pandemic, but his hold on power was made far more secure on that night in 2017 when he was able to declare that his impoverished country’s nuclear deterrent was now “complete.”
Iranian MPs Seek Hardening of Nuclear Stance After Scientist Killed
Reuters
A bill requiring Iran’s government to suspend nuclear inspections unless sanctions are lifted, and ignore other restraints on its nuclear programme agreed with major powers, was passed by the hardline-led parliament on Tuesday. But the government promptly said the move, proposed in response to the assassination of a top nuclear scientist on Friday, could not change Iran’s nuclear policy, which was the province of the Supreme National Security Council. “Death to America! Death to Israel!” lawmakers chanted after passing a draft of the bill in a session broadcast live on state radio. Lawmakers later passed the full bill, including a provision requiring the government to suspend United Nations nuclear inspections if Western powers which are still part of the 2015 nuclear accords, as well as China and Russia, do no re-establish Iran’s access to world banking and oil markets within a month.
New START Deal to Wait for Biden
Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos | Arms Control Today
The Trump administration and Russia signaled a willingness in November to reach a deal involving an extension of the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) and a freeze on all U.S. and Russian nuclear warheads following the U.S. presidential election, but the two sides remained at odds about the specific terms of such a deal. As a result, the fate of the treaty likely rests on Russia and the incoming Biden administration resolving the issue. President-elect Joe Biden has expressed support for the treaty’s extension. According to a Nov. 25 Reuters article, there is continued debate among Biden's advisers over how long the extension should be. The treaty allows for an extension of up to five years so long as the U.S. and Russian presidents agree to it.
Australia, U.S. Partner on Air-Launched Hypersonic Missile
Nigel Pittaway | Defense News
Australia and the United States are partnering to develop and test an air-launched hypersonic cruise missile under the bilateral Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment program, or SCIFiRE, the two countries announced Monday. From the U.S. perspective, the effort falls under the Allied Prototyping Initiative, which is managed by the Directorate of Advanced Capabilities within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. The program will be executed by the U.S. Air Force under the auspices of the weapons program executive officer, and it will leverage more than 15 years of collaboration on research into scramjets, rocket motors, sensors and advanced manufacturing materials between the two countries.
Is Jobs-Rich Nuclear Plant in Jeopardy? Biden Expected to Re-Examine SC Factory
Sammy Fretwell | The State
Earlier this month, efforts to build a jobs-rich nuclear weapons component factory in South Carolina reached a milestone that boosters hoped would keep construction plans on track over the next decade. The National Nuclear Security Administration finalized a study that said the factory would not have a major effect on the environment at the Savannah River Site, the 310-square mile weapons complex near Aiken that would house the plant. But the Nov. 5 announcement occurred at virtually the same time Joe Biden was in the process of winning the presidency — and as Biden prepares to take office in January, questions are surfacing about the factory’s future.