The latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran might not be cause for celebration, but it does provide some hopeful signs. The first report released since Hassan Rouhani became president, the IAEA assessment gives some small insight into the political decisions and direction of the new regime, and a moderately optimistic outlook for those hoping for progress in a new round of talks scheduled for the fall.
Reaching for a bigger stick with Iran
Recently, some optimism has surfaced among those hoping for a deal with Iran. The election of a new, more moderate president who seems to be engaged in the installation of an equally moderate cabinet, and who has taken steps to distance himself from his predecessor, seems to offer some hope for the future of nuclear talks.
Blown Opportunity: The Folly of Exempting Nuclear Weapons from Sequestration
Are nuclear weapons expensive? Should they be exempt from sequestration? According to the Pentagon, the answers to these questions are “No” and “Yes”.
Don’t blame Moscow
On July 12, the US State Department released a major annual report on arms control compliance that has riled up nuclear weapons hawks. In its annual “Report on Adherence to and Compliance With Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments,” the Department’s Bureau of Arms Control, Verification, and Compliance assessed whether numerous countries complied with treaty obligations in 2012. Most of the media attention, though, has been on what the report says (and doesn’t say) about Russia. Since the report came out, Republican members of Congress and their supporters have repeatedly accused Moscow of violating arms control treaties, and the State Department of ignoring the problem.
New Study Downplays Threat of “Nuclear Handoff,” But Nuclear Terrorism Threat Remains
Over the past few weeks, several blogs have spotlighted a recent article by scholars Keir Lieber and Daryl Press that analyzes the threat of a nuclear weapons state transferring nuclear weapons to a terrorist organization. The article – “Why States Won’t Give Nuclear Weapons to Terrorists” — asserts that a state has little incentive to deliberately transfer nuclear weapons to a terrorist group, because if that group were to carry out a nuclear attack with said weapons, neither party would remain anonymous, and retribution from the attacked state would undoubtedly ensue.
