by William Bittner* Iran is closer than ever to acquiring nuclear weapons. The risks to the international community are obvious—an arms race with the Gulf monarchies or theft by terrorists, to name just two—but so are the costs to Iran itself, which is already crippled by economic sanctions that have contributed to domestic unrest. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan […]
Middle East
Syria Still Has Chemical Weapons
Greg Koblentz, member of the Center’s Scientists Working Group of Chemical and Biological Threats, co-authored an op-ed in Foreign Affairs about eradicated the Syrian chemical weapons arsenal. The overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after 13 years of civil war happened more quickly and with far less bloodshed than anyone expected. It was especially surprising that […]
The Fall of Assad: A Cautionary Tale for Kim Jong Un
By Shawn Rostker The recent fall of Syria’s Assad regime offers a stark lesson for North Korea: relying on Russia is a gamble that Pyongyang cannot afford to take lightly. Bashar al-Assad’s downfall was, in large part, the result of Moscow’s inability to provide the decisive support needed to save its partner. While the fall […]
IAEA chief tours sensitive Iran nuclear plants
Paul Castleman Fellow Sam Hickey spoke with Yahoo News about the IAEA’s recent tour of Iranian nuclear plants. Samuel Hickey of the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said Grossi’s tour of the two plants was “significant for both technical monitoring and symbolic reasons”. “Natanz serves as Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility, while Fordo houses […]
How Iran breached Israel’s air defence by overwhelming it with missiles
Paul Castleman Fellow Sam Hickey spoke with TRT World about the Iranian missile strikes on Israel. As the missile defence system came under the spotlight, security experts rushed to analyse its weak spots and how it was overwhelmed by the missile barrage. “Iran’s strategy of launching missile barrages is designed to saturate air defence systems and […]