Nonproliferation News - October 23, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
Calls for nuclear weapons in South Korea
UPI by Lee Jong-heon

What might derail the Iran nuclear deal?
CSM by Robert Marquand

Senior Iranian MP casts doubt on atom fuel deal
Reuters by Parisa Hafezi

Israel Signals Concern on Iran Talks
NYT by Isabel Kershner

EAST ASIA
1. Japan Probes 1960s Nuclear Agreements With U.S.
WSJ by Yuka Hayashi
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates cautioned Japan this week against letting a fact-finding mission into decades-old secret nuclear-weapons agreements affect relations between the two countries, according to an official familiar with the matter.

2. Calls for nuclear weapons in South Korea
UPI by Lee Jong-heon
With the U.S. defense chief in Seoul for security talks, a group of scholars and retired military officials have called for a redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea to counter North Korea's nuclear drive.

3. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il makes summit offer to South Korea
London Times by Richard Lloyd Parry
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, has secretly invited South Korea’s President to a summit meeting in Pyongyang, in a further sign of his regime’s new drive to engage with the outside world, The Times has learnt.

4. US urging China, Japan to buy less oil from Iran
AP by Barry Schweid
The Obama administration is urging China, Japan and other countries to scale down their Iranian petroleum purchases to put pressure on Iran while the U.S. and others consider toughening economic sanctions on the regime.

MIDDLE EAST
5. Deadline expires for Iran uranium deal
AFP by Simon Morgan
Iran faced a new nuclear deadline Friday and new international pressure to agree a uranium enrichment deal brokered by the UN atomic watchdog.

6. Senior Iranian MP casts doubt on atom fuel deal
Reuters by Parisa Hafezi
A senior Iranian MP rejected on Thursday the idea of sending enriched uranium abroad for further processing, hinting at Tehran's reluctance to embrace a proposal meant to ease international tension over its nuclear ambitions.

7. What might derail the Iran nuclear deal?
CSM by Robert Marquand
Wednesday's draft agreement reached here to ship most of Iran's declared stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia to be reprocessed – buying all sides a year of time – now awaits what Iran's negotiators term a "thoughtful review" in Tehran.

8. Deal or no deal?
Economist
IRAN doesn’t usually do deadlines. It has been evading them in the seven years since an opposition group first outed its extensive covert nuclear programme, despite five UN Security Council resolutions that have told it to halt its suspect nuclear work. Yet after talks that ended in Vienna on October 21st, Iran and the three countries trying to strike a side-deal over new fuel for a Tehran-based nuclear reactor were told by Mohamed ElBaradei, outgoing chief of the UN’s nuclear guardian, that they had just two days to take his draft agreement or leave it.

9. Israel Signals Concern on Iran Talks
NYT by Isabel Kershner
The Israeli defense minister, Ehud Barak, said on Thursday that Iran must cease all uranium enrichment, a statement that reflected Israeli concern over a draft agreement taking shape in Vienna, where earlier this week Iran took part in nuclear talks with the United States, Russia and France.

10.  Iran denies allegations of tensions with Israel at conference
WP by Thomas Erdbrink and William Branigin
Representatives of Iran and Israel attended an international conference on nuclear disarmament last month in Egypt, but Iranian officials Thursday denied news reports that the two archenemies engaged in direct dialogue at the meeting amid conflicting accounts of heated exchanges.

11. US lawmakers unveil new Iran sanctions bill
AFP
US lawmakers unveiled new Iran sanctions legislation Thursday that could bar major global telecommunications giants that do business with the Islamic republic from lucrative US government contracts.

SOUTH ASIA
12. India’s Failure To Sign CTBT Can Hamper India’s Prospect For Permanent UN Seat
India Server
According to a US nuclear expert, the failure of India to sign the CTBT may hamper its chances for becoming a permanent part of the UN Security Council. This statement comes with just days left for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's US visit.
 
RUSSIA/FSU
13. Russia agrees to Iran nuclear deal: Lavrov
Reuters
Russia has agreed to proposals by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to help reduce Iran's stockpile of low-enriched uranium, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.

14. Russia pledges to continue arms supplies to Iran
AFP
Russia on Thursday said it would continue military cooperation with Iran amid widespread unease in the West over Moscow's controversial contract to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran.

EUROPE
15. Russian interests loom large as Biden visits eastern Europe
Telegraph by Jonathan Liew
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said that the new system, which replaces a bulkier version previously planned for the region, was “interesting” and “necessary”, and affirmed that Poland was willing to co-operate with the plans.

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

MISCELLANEOUS
16. WMD Commission Says U.S. Has Failed to Address Bioterror Threats
GSN by Martin Matishak
Despite progress addressing concerns over nuclear proliferation, the United States has not adequately tackled the more urgent threat of biological terrorism, a panel of experts asserted yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 7).

17. FACTBOX: What happens to spent nuclear fuel?
Reuters
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy has proposed an alternative nuclear fuel recycling system, which could reduce radioactive waste and avoid extraction of plutonium that can be used for making weapons.

OPINION
18. Iran's smokescreen in Vienna not completely dissipated
RIA Novosti by Dmitry Kosyrev
It seemed that everything was going according to plan. Except that only experts in nuclear weapons and nuclear energy fully understood what took place these last two days at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

19. Iran will emerge victorious
Guardian by Meir Javedanfar
If the draft nuclear deal between Iran and the west is confirmed it will be a major victory for Ayatollah Khamenei and his conservative allies.

20. Will Iran nuke deal bury chances of Israeli attack?
Haaretz by Amos Harel
It's no surprise the agreement emerging between Iran and the international community is being greeted in Jerusalem with a grain of salt. It is not easy to be weaned off 15 years of suspicions. Not only does Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not inspire much confidence, the entire Iranian regime has earned a reputation of deceptiveness. It will take a long time for Israel's intelligence community and decision makers to accept an assessment that in Vienna, the Jewish state was saved.