Nonproliferation News - October 1, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
Iran to propose third-party uranium enrichment: Ahmadinejad
AFP by Jay Deshmukh

U.S. Opens Door To Bilateral Talks With Iranians
Washington Post by Glenn Kessler

Iran broke law by not declaring atom site - ElBaradei
Reuters by Mark Heinrich

Time for diplomacy to end the stand-off with Iran
Financial Times by John Kerry

EAST ASIA
1. Door open to dialogue with N. Korea
AP by Hyung-Jin Kim
Washington’s number two diplomat said the United States is open to dialogue with North Korea if it helps get international nuclear disarmament talks started again, and urged the regime yesterday to take advantage of the opportunity.

2. U.S. Denies Rift with Seoul Over N.Korea Deal
Chosun Ilbo
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on Wednesday denied there is conflict with South Korea over a package deal to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear program. Steinberg said President Lee Myung-Bak's proposal of a "grand bargain" is a matter that has been discussed between South Korea and the U.S. "What we all agree is that we've lived through the history before of partial measures and reversible measures," Steinberg said. "What we need is a comprehensive and definitive resolution of the nuclear question."

3. U.S. to continue sanctioning N. Korea to press denuclearization: State Dept. 
Yonhap News by Hwang Doo-hyong
The United States Wednesday reiterated that it will continue sanctioning North Korea unless it abandons its nuclear weapons programs.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Iran to propose third-party uranium enrichment: Ahmadinejad
AFP by Jay Deshmukh
Iran will propose that it is prepared to buy from a third party uranium enriched to the grade it requires for its Tehran reactor rather than carry out the enrichment itself, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday.

5. Iran Meets U.S. and Allies for Nuclear Talks in Geneva
NYT by Steven Erlanger and Mark Landler
Critical talks over Iran’s nuclear ambitions began Thursday morning in the Geneva countryside, with Washington and its allies hoping to draw Iran into a serious negotiation that will open up the country to serious nuclear inspections, suspend Iran’s nuclear enrichment program and reassure its neighbors that its intentions are peaceful.

6. As U.S. Plots Iran Strategy, Envoy’s Visit Hints at a Thaw
NYT by Mark Landler and Steven Erlanger
As the United States and Iran prepared for critical talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, the Iranian foreign minister arrived quietly in Washington on Wednesday to visit the unofficial embassy here, the first visit to the capital by an Iranian of that rank in a decade.

7. U.S. Opens Door To Bilateral Talks With Iranians
Washington Post by Glenn Kessler
The United States hopes to launch a process here Thursday that could rein in Tehran's nuclear ambitions and possibly reorient Iran's role in the world, though U.S. officials are skeptical that Tehran will act decisively when its diplomats sit down for long-awaited discussions with world powers.

8. Iranian Statement May Offer Window Into Nuclear Efforts
NYT by William J. Broad and David E. Sanger
They were two words heard round the world by the intelligence experts and atomic inspectors who are trying to decipher the riddle of the Iranian nuclear program.

9. France Toughens Stance on Iran
Washington Post by Edward Cody
Under President Nicolas Sarkozy, France has adopted an increasingly hard-edged approach to Iran, often out ahead of the Obama administration with uncompromising language criticizing Iranian leaders and warning that their nuclear program threatens world peace.

10. U.N. Awaits Iran's Word on Nuclear Inspections
WSJ by David Crawford
The United Nations nuclear watchdog could dispatch inspectors to Iran's recently revealed nuclear facility within days if Tehran bows to demands from the U.S. and its allies to give investigators unfettered access to the site.

11. Iran broke law by not declaring atom site - ElBaradei
Reuters by Mark Heinrich
Iran broke a transparency law of the U.N. nuclear watchdog by failing to disclose much earlier a nuclear plant being built for uranium enrichment, agency director Mohamed ElBaradei said in a televised interview.

12. Iran Rules Out Discussion of Second Enrichment Site
GSN
Iran indicated yesterday that it did not intend in talks with six world powers to discuss the recently disclosed construction of a second uranium enrichment facility, Reuters reported (see GSN, Sept. 29).

13. Iranian Opposition Warns Against Stricter Sanctions
Washington Post by Thomas Erdbrink
As the United States and its allies consider further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fear that such punishment could have unintended consequences, strengthening the government's hand against domestic dissent and triggering an even harsher crackdown on political foes.

14. Dodd to introduce Senate Iran sanctions bill
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee announced plans to introduce Iran sanctions legislation.

15. Possibility of a Nuclear-Armed Iran Alarms Arabs
NYT by Michael Slackman
As the West raises the pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, Arab governments, especially the small, oil-rich nations in the Persian Gulf, are growing increasingly anxious. But they are concerned not only with the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran but also with the more immediate threat that Iran will destabilize the region if the West presses too hard, according to diplomats, regional analysts and former government officials.

16. Britain differs from U.S. view on Iran bomb design
Reuters by William Maclean
British officials suspect Iran has been seeking nuclear weapons for the past few years, differing from a U.S. view that Tehran halted work on design and weaponisation in 2003, a UK security source said Wednesday.

SOUTH ASIA
17. India can't be expected to sign NPT in present form: IAEA chief
Times of India
In a clear authentication of India's stand, IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei on Wednesday said that India cannot be expected to sign NPT
in its present form and that CTBT instead could be more acceptable to New Delhi.

RUSSIA/FSU
18. Russia, U.S. Hold Nuclear Security Talks
GSN
The head of Russia's atomic energy agency discussed nuclear security matters with U.S. officials this week in the first meeting of a joint presidential commission announced last July, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced (see GSN, Sept. 22).

19. Russia ready for restoration of ties with NATO
AP
Russia is ready to fully restore cooperation with NATO which was suspended in the aftermath of the Russia-Georgia war, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

EUROPE
20. Poles indignant that U.S. altered missile-shield plans
LA Times by Megan K. Stack
It hardly seems to matter anymore that Poles had long been leery of playing host to U.S. missile interceptors aimed at defending against long-range threats from Iran. Washington's decision to back out of the missile shield agreement forged by the Bush administration -- and opposed by Russia -- has evoked memories among Poles of Cold War helplessness, of being brushed aside as casualties of great power politics.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

MISCELLANEOUS

OPINION
21. No Nixon-to-China Moment Here
Foreign Policy by Patrick Clawson
The U.S. should not pursue a Nixon-to-China moment with Iran.  Iran isn’t interested in a strategic alignment with the West and should be punished for their human rights abuses.
 
22. Time for diplomacy to end the stand-off with Iran
Financial Times by John Kerry
The public revelation of the Qom enrichment facility and Iran’s provocative ballistic missile test on Monday demonstrate what is at stake. After years of policy drift and transatlantic disagreement, the US and its allies will enter the talks in a position of relative strength and unity and should give diplomacy a chance.

23. Talking With Iran: Chances for a Breakthrough Are Low
Time by Tony Karon
The drama of last week's revelation that Iran has been secretly building an underground uranium enrichment facility may have raised expectations that this week's Geneva talks would be a kind of high-noon showdown. Instead, Thursday's meeting between Iran's nuclear negotiator and representatives of the Western powers, Russia and China is more likely to be the opening exchange of a tortuous conversation that will continue for months.

24. The power, and threat, of Iran
LA Times by Alastair Crooke
This isthe choice facing Obama: He can pursue a real solution, one that will have to acknowledge painful new realities and accept new forces arising in the region that inevitably will shift strategic balances. Or he can continue to try to contain them and risk a polarized and unstable Middle East.  It seems likely that the U.S. will pursue ineffective sanctions.

25. Ahmadinejad: Iran's Man of Mystery
Time by Joe Klein
Iran, led by Ahmadinejad, is obnoxious, but only a second-level danger to the U.S. The Obama Administration should continue its attempts to engage the Iranians while preparing to contain and deter them if they actually try to build a bomb. And there is good news: Ahmadinejad assured us that he would not attempt to change Iran's constitution and run for a third term in 2013.

26. Israel rethinks anti-Iran warnings
Reuters by Dan Williams
Suddenly, the Iranian "existential threat" seems to have receded from Israel's horizon.