IAEA Confirms Iran’s Continued Compliance

Iran honors deal - “Iran has corrected one violation of its landmark nuclear deal with six world powers and is honoring all other major obligations, the U.N. atomic energy agency reported Friday… In February, a month after the deal's implementation, the agency noted that Iran had produced heavy water beyond its allotted limit of 143.3 tons (130 metric tons)... The confidential assessment, obtained by The Associated Press, said Tehran was now below that amount,” writes George Jahn for the AP.

--“The deal also crimped and set long-term restrictions on uranium enrichment, a process that — like plutonium production — can be turned to making nuclear weapons. Iran was keeping to its commitments on that, the report said.” Full article here. http://apne.ws/1Vnld4X

Tweet - @BrookingsInst: A nuclear-armed Iran after the #IranDeal is far from automatic, and US has tools to prevent it, says Bob Einhorn: http://brook.gs/1Ursv5n

Obama hasn’t lived up to rhetoric - “Reprising the soaring words of his 2009 speech in Prague, [President Obama] declared, ‘We must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without’ nuclear weapons, while acknowledging that it is unlikely to happen soon… Mr. Obama made headway by concluding the 2010 New Start Treaty, which mandates cuts in the strategic nuclear warheads deployed by America and Russia, and by achieving the 2015 nuclear deal to keep Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon,” writes the editorial board of The New York Times.

--“Yet Mr. Obama has undercut his own record with a $1 trillion program to rebuild the American nuclear arsenal over the next 30 years. A new Pentagon report shows that he has eliminated fewer nuclear weapons than any president since the end of the Cold War… Other initiatives, like canceling America’s new air-launched, nuclear-armed cruise missile, are still possible. Soaring words alone will not rid the world of nuclear weapons.” Full piece here. http://nyti.ms/25ypU1W

Former general: Cut nuclear weapons - “For 76-year-old retired Air Force General George Lee Butler… who once had his finger on the trigger for thousands of nuclear warheads more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, Obama and the rest of Washington are moving far too slowly towards a denuclearization; indeed, he believes the devastation that unfolded there is still a haunting vision of what could happen in the future,” writes R. Jeffrey Smith for the Center for Public Integrity.

--Currently the Pentagon plans to spend more than $1 trillion on new nuclear weapons. “Those plans include upgrades to a handful of existing nuclear warheads, a fleet of new nuclear submarines, a new intercontinental ballistic missile system, a new air-launched cruise missile, and a new strategic bomber force. The cost, according to the Pentagon, will be $350 billion to $450 billion over the next 10 years alone… When Butler commanded such weapons systems, he calculated they had cost the government more than $6 trillion. The submarines under his operational command alone cost $3 billion a copy, he writes, the 24 missiles on each boat cost $60 million apiece, and the annual operation of a boat cost $75 million.”

--“In his memoir, Butler says that the inertia behind America’s nuclear weapons work — which has produced an arsenal smaller in quantity but greater in quality than during the Cold War – is attributable in part to some nefarious institutional forces… ‘Such arsenals take on a life and logic of their own, commanding huge budgets and compelling decisions that march at an ever increasing tempo to the beat of fear, technology, status and vested interests… Technological opportunity and corporate profits drove force levels and capabilities, and political opportunism intruded on calculations of military necessity.’” Full article here. http://bit.ly/1XbxQSq

Cruise missile’s problems - “The biggest question [about plans for the U.S. nuclear arsenal] arises over the LRSO, with a projected cost of $20 billion to $30 billion,” writes Steven Pifer for Defense News. The Air Force designed nuclear-armed cruise missiles to be more stealthy and penetrating than bombers, but the B-2 and B-21 have stealth and penetrating capability. “If these bombers can defeat and penetrate air defenses, that makes the LRSO redundant.”

--“If one were to argue for the redundant capability provided by the LRSO, the number of new ALCMs that the Pentagon proposes to purchase — 1,000 to 1,100 — is difficult to understand. Even allowing for extra cruise missiles for test purposes, the number seems excessively high… The United States should sensibly modernize its strategic deterrent, particularly in a time of tight defense budgets. The case for the LRSO is demonstrably weak, especially for the planned size of the program. The LRSO should be shelved.” http://bit.ly/1RIQEjh

Tweet - @AndyWeberNCB: @POTUS you still have time to say #NoLRSO and lead the global elimination of these dangerous nuclearcruisemissiles.com

Remembering the atomic veterans - “In combat, lives can be erased in an instant. Military men and women accept that as a given… As the years pass, does the nation bear an abiding obligation to them when they find they face death on the installment plan? These are questions that have long dogged a particular group of Americans, several hundred thousand of them, nearly all men. They were soldiers and sailors who, in the first years after World War II, took part in atmospheric nuclear tests conducted in the Pacific and in Nevada,” writes Clyde Haberman for The New York Times.

--“They were posted within range of exploding bombs — in effect made to be guinea pigs in studies of how combat troops might stand up in a war fought with nuclear arms. Across the decades, many among these ‘atomic veterans’ suffered cancers and other diseases. Try convincing them that their troubles had nothing to do with the radiation they absorbed. On this Memorial Day, their plight shapes the latest installment of Retro Report, a series of video documentaries examining important news stories of the past and their lasting consequences.” Read the full story and watch the video here. http://nyti.ms/1O0Md8R

A failed launch from North Korea - “North Korea attempted to fire a missile from its east coast on Tuesday but the launch appears to have failed, South Korean officials said, in what would be the latest in a string of unsuccessful ballistic missile tests by the isolated country. The launch attempt took place at around 5:20 a.m. Seoul time (4.20 p.m. ET), said the officials, who asked not to be identified. They did not elaborate,” reports Ju-Min Park for Reuters. Find the full article here. http://reut.rs/25vaUP9

Lessons from the Iran Deal - International experts working toward a Middle East WMD Free Zone are looking to the Iran Deal (JCPOA) as a template. “My lesson from the Iran agreement is that it is possible to hold discussions and contacts between hostile countries such as the US and Iran even in the absence of trust and mutual affection on condition that the final product is anchored in a tight and intrusive monitoring and verification system of the highest degree,” writes Shemuel Meir for LobeLog.

--“The success in reaching the JCPOA on the Iranian nuclear program in Vienna in July 2015 was a milestone in international non-proliferation diplomacy. The agreement blocked the potential tracks for a nuclear weapon equipped Iran. So the question is whether it is possible to build on the JCPOA’s positive momentum and to adopt some of the limitations and prohibitions imposed on Iran as well as the intrusive monitoring system in other parts of the world.” Full article here. http://bit.ly/1sIzo9f

Quick Hits:

--“These are all the countries that still have nuclear weapons,” by Samuel Osborne for The Independent. http://ind.pn/24d6V7i

--“Obama Calls for No Nukes, but the US Still Has Big Plans for Nuclear Weapons,” by Rob Garver for The Fiscal Times. http://bit.ly/1THZxfh

--“Obama: Memory of Hiroshima Bombing ‘Must Never Fade,’” by Carol Lee and Alexander Martin for The Wall Street Journal. http://on.wsj.com/1U9UR0O

--“Senator Scolds Obama for ‘Preaching Nuclear Temperance From a Bar Stool’” by Alex Emmons for The Intercept. http://bit.ly/1UaEoK2

--“71 years after Hiroshima, will we see a world free from nuclear weapons soon?” by Kuang Keng Kuek Ser for PRI’s The World. http://bit.ly/25yomFf

--“Dangerous Nuclear Security Failures in Russia's Backyard,” by Petra Posega via The National Interest. http://bit.ly/1WuM4x8

--“China To Send Nuclear-Armed Submarines To Pacific To Counter U.S., Beijing Claims,” by Tim Daiss for Forbes. http://onforb.es/1RIZpd9

--“What Presidents Talk About When They Talk About Hiroshima,” by Alex Wellerstein for The New Yorker. http://bit.ly/22rclw3

Events:

--“Global Nuclear Challenges and Solutions for the Next U.S. President,” with Benjamin Rhodes, deputy national security advisor to the President; Setsuko Thurlow, Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor; and seven other speakers. Presented by the Arms Control Association. June 6 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Carnegie Endowment, Root Room, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington. RSVP online. http://bit.ly/23rIEK8

--“The Evolution of the Nuclear Order: A Global Perspective,” featuring Toby Dalton and five other speakers. June 6 from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the Carnegie Endowment, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington. RSVP online. http://ceip.org/1Z2TzsO

--“Chain Reaction: Women in Security,” featuring Valerie Plame, former CIA officer and author; Michèle Flournoy, co-founder and CEO of the Center for a New American Security; Kavita Ramdas, senior advisor on global strategy at Ford Foundation; Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association; and Smriti Keshari, multi-disciplinary artist and producer. June 6 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. at The Open Square at Futures Without Violence, 100 Montgomery Street, The Presidio of San Francisco San Francisco, CA. Buy tickets here. http://bit.ly/1RYski6

--“Defense Budgeting and National Security,” with Deborah Lee James, Air Force Secretary. June 13 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, 2121 K St. NW, Suite 801, Washington. RSVP by email. http://bit.ly/1PfQaXu