Nonproliferation News - October 29, 2009

FISSILE MATERIAL
The Next Steps on Nonproliferation
Foreign Policy by Hillary Rodham Clinton

US Must Plan for Nuke Wars
DOD Buzz by Greg Grant

Iran to propose two amendments to IAEA deal: report
AFP

Why Iran Will Push Back on the West's Nuclear Offer
Time by Tony Karon

EAST ASIA
1. Informal talks made no progress on resuming 6-way talks: State Dept. 
Yonhap by Hwang Doo-hyong
The United States and North Korea failed to make progress toward the resumption of six-party nuclear negotiations during talks held on the margins of an academic seminar in San Diego, the U.S. State Department said Wednesday.

2. Low expectations for quick resumption of Six Party Talks
Foreign Policy (The Cable) by Josh Rogin
Don't expect huge progress toward a resumption of multilateral negotiations to deal with North Korea's nuclear program, just because U.S. and North Korean officials hung out in San Diego this week.

3. Tokyo welcomes news of Obama hosting nuclear security summit prep meeting in Japan
Mainichi Daily News
Tokyo welcomed the news that a preparatory meeting for next spring's international summit on nuclear security is going to be held in Japan in December, on the initiative of U.S. President Barack Obama who has pledged to seek a nuclear-free world.

MIDDLE EAST
4. Iran to propose two amendments to IAEA deal: report
AFP
Iran will propose two amendments to a UN-drafted deal under which most of Tehran's low-enriched uranium will be sent abroad for conversion into nuclear fuel, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

5. Iran ready to co-operate on nuclear programme, says Ahmadinejad
Guardian by Peter Walker and Robert Tait 
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today said his country was ready to co-operate with the international community over its nuclear programme but insisted it would not give up its atomic ambitions.

6. Iran Delivers Response to UN Nuclear Agency on Uranium Plan
Bloomberg by Ali Sheikholeslami
Iran said it has delivered a response to a United Nations-brokered plan for the shipment of its enriched uranium to Russia for processing into reactor fuel, a compromise proposal reached after negotiations with the world powers at the UN nuclear agency in Vienna.

7. Iran Hints at ‘Cooperation’ on U.N. Nuclear Deal
NYT by Robert F. Worth and Alan Cowell
After days of uncertain signals, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hinted Thursday that Iran would accept a United Nations-sponsored plan to send the country’s uranium abroad for processing, saying “we welcome cooperation on nuclear fuel, power plants, and technology, and we are ready to cooperate.”

8. Iran's president appears to back nuclear proposal
CSM by Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim
Iran's president today appeared to lend support to an International Atomic Energy Agency proposal to ship the bulk of his country's enriched uranium abroad, casting it as a victory for Iranian steadfastness as the world awaits Tehran's formal response to the deal.

9. Iran May Evade U.S. Sanctions as U.A.E. Delivers Fuel
Bloomberg by Henry Meyer and Anthony DiPaola
A U.S. effort to pressure Iran into nuclear concessions by curbing gasoline imports may have little impact because the United Arab Emirates and other countries are willing to keep shipping fuel to the Islamic Republic.

10. House committee OKs tighter Iran sanctions bill
AP by William C. Mann
A bill that would tighten U.S. sanctions against the export of refined petroleum products to Iran was approved overwhelmingly Wednesday by the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

SOUTH ASIA

RUSSIA/FSU
11. US security adviser in Moscow nuclear arms talks
AP by David Nowak
U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday, opening a day of negotiations expected to focus on downsizing nuclear arsenals and the Iran issue.

12. Russia says has not supplied S-300 missiles to Iran
Reuters
Russia has so far not supplied S-300 air defense missiles to Iran, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday.

13. Missile shield shift opens common ground for Russia and US
CSM by Fred Weir
After years squabbling over how the US could build an effective missile defense shield for Europe without scaring or offending Moscow, a growing number of experts suggest there may be an obvious way to square that circle: bring the Russians in and make them partners in a broad multi-national project.

EUROPE

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

MISCELLANEOUS
14. US Must Plan for Nuke Wars
DOD Buzz by Greg Grant
Perhaps more than any other open-source outfit, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments has put serious intellectual muscle into examining the implications of waging war in an environment where potential enemies don’t just threaten to use nuclear weapons, they actually detonate a nuclear device.

15. Experts Warn of Proliferation Dangers Posed by Laser Enrichment
GSN by Martin Matishak
Technology like the kind called for at a proposed laser uranium enrichment facility in the United States could increase the threat of nuclear weapons and materials proliferation in other countries, a panel of experts warned this week (see GSN, Oct. 27).

OPINION
16. The Next Steps on Nonproliferation
Foreign Policy by Hillary Rodham Clinton
In an age of pressing global challenges, none threatens our nation or our world as urgently as the possible spread of nuclear weapons. The United States has a special responsibility to meet this challenge, and under President Obama, we seek to lead the international community in minimizing these dangers and reinvigorating the nuclear nonproliferation regime.

17. Iran: Can Obama play hardball?
WP by Robert Kagan
Watching the Obama administration launch its "new era of engagement" over the past 10 months, most seasoned observers have pondered two questions: First, if engagement fails, will the Obama team ever acknowledge that it has failed? And what then?

18. Why Iran Will Push Back on the West's Nuclear Offer
Time by Tony Karon
As the world has waited for Iran's response to the latest nuclear deal offered by the West, conventional wisdom has held that Tehran has been playing for time, testing the limits of international political resolve, and hamstrung by internal political divisions. There's a measure of truth to all three claims, as official sources in Tehran have begun to indicate that Iran will accept the framework of the deal, but demand important changes. But the root of the problem may be that while the agreement is envisaged as a first step, the two sides don't share a common destination.

19. Pragmatists in Tehran
Foreign Policy by Hillary Mann Leverett
Direct U.S.-Iranian negotiations in Geneva and Vienna this month over Iran's nuclear program demonstrate something very positive about the prospects for U.S. diplomacy with Iran: When given the chance to engage directly with the United States, Iran will take that chance and pursue negotiations in an active and constructive way.