Nonproliferation News - November 30, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
Iran defies censure, plans 10 uranium sites
Reuters by Parisa Hafezi and Reza Derakhshi

Iranian lawmaker: Iran could leave nuclear treaty
AP by Ali Akbar Dareini

Russia Vows Quick Completion Of Iran Atom Plant
Radio Free Europe by Reuters

Russia, U.S. to sign arms pact, may miss deadline
Reuters by Denis Dyomkin

EAST ASIA
1. N.K. renews claim to nuclear state status
Korea Herald
North Korea reasserted Friday it is an internationally recognized nuclear-armed state, citing a U.S. science magazine, a claim denied by the outside world, Yonhap News reported.

2. Seoul downplays expectations of US-NKorea talks
AP by Hyung-jin Kim
A rare direct meeting between North Korean and American officials next week is unlikely to produce a major breakthrough in the standoff over Pyongyang's nuclear program, media reports cited a senior Seoul official as suggesting Sunday.

3. N. Korea, U.S. likely to hold multiple direct talks: expert 
Yonhap by Lee Chi-dong
North Korea and the United States are expected to lay the groundwork for top-level bilateral talks, probably involving Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when President Barack Obama's special envoy visits Pyongyang next month, a South Korean expert said Friday.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Iran announces plans for 10 new uranium enrichment plants
WP by Thomas Erdbrink
Iran's government will build 10 new sites to enrich uranium, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday, a dramatic expansion of the country's nuclear program and one that is bound to fuel fears that it is attempting to produce a nuclear weapon.

5. Iran defies censure, plans 10 uranium sites
Reuters by Parisa Hafezi and Reza Derakhshi
Iran announced plans on Sunday to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in a major expansion of its atomic program, just two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog rebuked it for carrying out such work in secret.

6. ElBaradei: Iran blocking of atom plan disappointing
WP by Reuters (Mark Heinrich)
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Thursday criticized Iran's blockage of a plan to divest it of possible nuclear bomb material as "disappointing."

7. IAEA votes to censure Iran over nuclear cover-up
Reuters by Mark Heinrich
The U.N. nuclear watchdog voted Friday to rebuke Iran for building a uranium enrichment plant in secret but Tehran rejected the move as "intimidation" which would poison its negotiations with world powers.

8. Iranian lawmaker: Iran could leave nuclear treaty
AP by Ali Akbar Dareini
Iran's parliament may consider withdrawing the country from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in response to a resolution by the U.N. nuclear watchdog censuring Tehran over its nuclear program, a hardline lawmaker said Saturday.

9. Iran restructuring its naval forces
WP by Walter Pincus
Iran has reorganized its naval forces to give operational control of the strategic Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to the naval component of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the paramilitary organization that is playing an increasingly central role not only in Iran's military but also its political and economic life.

10. Damascus shrugs off nuclear rebuke
The National by Phil Sands
If the latest rebuke by the United Nations nuclear watchdog against Syria caused any alarm in Damascus, the authorities here are certainly not showing it.

SOUTH ASIA
11. US, India inch 'closer to nuclear deal'
AFP
India and the United States are close to signing a nuclear fuel reprocessing agreement, one of the last requirements to finalise last year's landmark civilian nuclear deal, an official said Sunday.

12. Pakistani PM takes charge of nuclear weapons
Reuters by Augustine Anthony
Pakistan's president has transfered authority over the nation's nuclear weapons to the prime ministership, as the unpopular leader tries to deflect growing criticism he has too much power.

13. Pak should ensure nuke weapons don't go to wrong hands: Kapoor
PTI
Chief of Army staff General Deepak Kapoor today said it was important to ensure that the control of Pakistan's nuclear weapons command does not go to "wrong hands".

RUSSIA/FSU
14. Russia, U.S. to sign arms pact, may miss deadline
Reuters by Denis Dyomkin
The United States and Russia will sign a deal this year to cut vast Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons but may miss an early December deadline, a Kremlin source told Reuters on Friday.

15. Russia Vows Quick Completion Of Iran Atom Plant
Radio Free Europe by Reuters
Russia's energy minister has pledged a quick completion of Iran's first nuclear power station, two weeks after announcing the latest delay, but refrained from giving a specific time for its launch.

16. Russia upbeat about IAEA resolution on its uranium initiative
RIA Novosti
Russia's Foreign Ministry welcomed on Saturday the UN nuclear watchdog's resolution on Moscow's initiative to establish a reserve of low-enriched uranium.

EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
17. Outspoken IAEA chief El Baradei to retire on Monday
The Hindu by DPA
Mohamed El Baradei is retiring on Monday as chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the Iran nuclear issue unresolved and IAEA inspectors banned from North Korea.

18. Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency to access Russian nuclear security
Itar-Tass
Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will on Friday complete their 12-day mission to Russia and provide final conclusions regarding control and supervision of Russian nuclear power engineering facilities.

MISCELLANEOUS

OPINION
19. Barack Obama’s myopic Iran policy
The Hindu by Siddharth Varadarajan
By giving Israel veto rights and threatening more sanctions, the U.S. is squandering the best chance we have for a negotiated solution to the Iranian nuclear issue.

20. 500,000 Iranian Centrifuges
WSJ
Mohamed ElBaradei caps his contentious and ultimately failed 12-year stint as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency today, having spent many years enabling Iran's nuclear bids only to condemn them in his final days in office. Mr. ElBaradei combined his rebuke of Iran with his familiar calls for more negotiation, but we'll take his belated realism about Iran as his tacit admission that Dick Cheney and John Bolton have been right all along. Let's hope the education of the Obama Administration doesn't take as long.

21. IAEA not the best solution to the Iran nuclear problem
LA Times
Critics say Director General Mohamed ElBaradei was unduly cautious on accusing Tehran of working toward nuclear weapons. But even if he made the right decisions, the process isn't working.

22. ANALYSTS' VIEW: Reaction to Iran's uranium enrichment plans
Reuters
Following are analysts' reactions to Iran's announcement Sunday that it plans to build 10 new uranium enrichment plants in a major expansion of its atomic program.

23. Washington Can Give An Israeli Attack On Iran The Red Light
Huffington Post by Trita Parsi
Only a few weeks after US-Iran diplomacy began in earnest, it seems to be heading towards a premature ending. Rather than tensions reduction, the world has witnessed the opposite. Iran is refusing to accept a fuel swap deal brokered by the IAEA, the IAEA has passed a resolution rebuking Iran, and Tehran has responded by approving a plan to build ten more nuclear facilities.

24. Last mile in the nuclear deal
The Hindu
There can be little question that the failure to reach agreement on the arrangements and procedures for reprocessing spent American fuel on Indian soil during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States is a let-down.