Nonproliferation News - November 12, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
Exclusive: Iranian enrichment has not grown: diplomats
Reuters by Mark Heinrich

Ahmadinejad suggests Iran role in atom fuel bank
Reuters

US-Russia nuclear talks hit snag: report
AFP

The Senate and the START treaty
Washington Times by Robert S. Norris

EAST ASIA
1. Japan to reassure U.S. on alliance at summit
Reuters by Chisa Fujioka
Japan will reassure the United States that their alliance is in good shape, Tokyo said on Thursday, as a feud over a Marine base strains relations ahead of a visit by President Barack Obama.

2. Clinton says Korea naval fight won't deter U.S. envoy visit
Reuters by David Alexander
A naval skirmish between the two Koreas will not derail the Obama administration's plans to send its first envoy to Pyongyang to revive dormant nuclear talks, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday.

3. Koreas held secret gov't talks last week: source 
Yonhap
Ranking officials of the two Koreas held a secret meeting in North Korea's border town of Kaesong last week, an informed government source said Wednesday.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Exclusive: Iranian enrichment has not grown: diplomats
Reuters by Mark Heinrich
Iran has effectively stopped expanding active uranium enrichment since September, diplomats said, while considering a big power offer to fuel a medical reactor if it turns over enriched material seen as an atomic bomb risk.

5. Ahmadinejad suggests Iran role in atom fuel bank
Reuters
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday declared Iran's readiness for international nuclear cooperation, including on a global fuel bank, but made clear again that Tehran would not halt its own atomic activities.

6. Iran's Ahmadinejad calls for nuclear cooperation
LA Times by Borzou Daragahi
Iran's president on Wednesday called for international cooperation on nuclear technology in a prime-time television appearance filled with conciliatory language toward the world community, in stark contrast with the dismissive tone of other senior Iranian officials toward a United Nations-backed proposal.

7. Blix: Iran's nuclear work raising Mideast tensions
CNN
Iran can't convince the world it doesn't want nuclear weapons as long as it is producing nuclear fuel on an industrial scale, former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said Wednesday.

8. Erdogan promises Iran Turkish intelligence aid against Israel
DEBKAfile
In the secret part of their talks in Tehran on Oct. 28, DEBKAfile's military sources reveal that Turkish prime minister Tayyep Recep Erdogan and Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad struck military cooperation deals which promised Iran Turkish military intelligence and air force assistance against a possible Israeli attack on its nuclear sites.

SOUTH ASIA
9. Hersh downplays Pakistani nuke claims
UPI
American journalist Seymour Hersh on Wednesday downplayed his recent claims that U.S. officials were planning to seize Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.

RUSSIA/FSU
10. US-Russia nuclear talks hit snag: report
AFP
Talks between Moscow and Washington to replace a key nuclear disarmament treaty that expires next month have hit a snag over proposed restrictions on Russian missiles, a newspaper said Thursday.

11. State Department “Very Disappointed” in Russian Response to New START Offer
GSN by Elaine M. Grossman
A senior U.S. State Department official yesterday voiced dissatisfaction with Russia's response to an offer the United States made in negotiations over a new agreement to replace the soon-to-expire Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (see GSN, Nov. 9).

12. Russia urges Iran to agree nuclear deal soon
AFP
Russia urged Iran again on Wednesday to give a prompt and positive response to a UN-drafted plan aimed at easing international concern over Tehran's nuclear programme.

13. S-300 missile deliveries to Iran under review — Russian official
RIA Novosti
Russia is still considering the possible deliveries of advance air defense systems to Iran and will not freeze the contract as a concession to the United States, a government official said.

EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
14. IAEA to Report on Iranian Warhead Study, U.S. Official Says
GSN
The International Atomic Energy Agency plans next week to outline evidence that Iran has worked on technology for attaching a nuclear warhead to a missile, a senior U.S. State Department official said yesterday (see GSN, Nov. 10).

MISCELLANEOUS
15. Strategic Command Chief Predicts U.S. Will Need Nuclear Weapons for Next 40 Years
GSN by Martin Matishak
A top U.S. general yesterday predicted the United States will still need nuclear weapons 40 years into the future in order to bolster national security and provide protection for allies (see GSN, Nov. 9).

16. The threat of nuclear meltdown
CNN by Steve Hargreaves
At a nuclear power plant in Texas, two men dressed in combat gear are perched atop a steel-framed watchtower armed with assault rifles, firing on both moving and stationary targets some 300 years away.
 
OPINION
17. The Senate and the START treaty
Washington Times by Robert S. Norris
The next few months will be crucial to the success of President Obama's agenda for nuclear disarmament. By the end of the year the Nuclear Posture Review is scheduled to be completed, providing policy direction for the size, composition and capabilities of the future nuclear stockpile, the complex that supports it and a rationale for why we possess the arms.

18. Post-START verification gap
Russian strategic nuclear forces by Pavel Podvig
Once the START treaty expires, its verification procedures will be gone as well. Since ratification of the new agreement will take at least several months, the United States and Russia are facing a "verification gap". With U.S. politics being what it is the gap may easily last for a year or so.