Sanctions Broadening on Iran

On the radar: Sanctions in NDAA; Hagel nomination; Japan’s Plutonium Problems; Los Alamos security; Richardson and Schmidt in Pyongyang; Eating grass; and Reagan’s awesomely bad Soviet space program brief.

January 7, 2013 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke

New sanctions - The recently signed defense authorization bill contained “tightened sanctions on Iran’s energy, shipbuilding and shipping sectors” and expressed “support for the Iranian people’s efforts to build a democratic political system and access information freely.” Relevant sections of the bill re-posted by The Iran Primer. http://bit.ly/118eZdl

Context - Iran’s economy is reeling from existing sanctions and the regime’s economic mismanagement. Iran is expected to enter into a new round of nuclear talks with the P5+1 this month. Despite some reservations, President Obama signed the recent defense authorization bill, which imposes a new round of sanctions on Iran - to be implemented within 180 days.

--“While some previous U.S. sanctions targeted individuals and firms linked to Iran’s nuclear industry, the new policies are closer to a true trade embargo, designed to systematically attack and undercut Iran’s major financial pillars and threaten the country with economic collapse, the officials say.” Joby Warrick at The Washington Post has the story. http://wapo.st/XeJPfA

Nominations - Later today, President Barack Obama is expected to nominate former Sen. Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. From The Washington Post. http://wapo.st/URkusr

Tweet - @nukes_of_hazard: Back in 2007, Sens. Obama and Hagel wrote a bill to prevent nuclear terrorism, reduce global nuclear arsenals and more. http://t.co/oQdPgJQK

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Plutonium problems - Japan is struggling to bring online a costly facility to convert spent reactor fuel into a plutonium-uranium fuel called “MOX.” The new plant - 30 years in the making - faces an uncertainty after Fukushima as the Japanese government reconsiders its future with nuclear power and how it plans to manage spent nuclear fuel.

--Mari Yamaguchi at the Japan Times has the story of the plant, the technological problems, and Japan’s growing stockpile of nearly 17,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel. http://bit.ly/VO9zNM

LANL cyber concerns - Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico recently discovered that its computer systems contained some Chinese-made network switches, causing the nuclear lab to replace the components due to national security concerns. Steve Stecklow at Reuters has the scoop. http://reut.rs/SfT9lw

Americans in Pyongyang - Former governor Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt visited North Korea today in a humanitarian visit. Story from Choe Sang-Hun at The New York Times.

--DPRK Trivia fodder: “North Korea welcomes high-profile American visits to Pyongyang, billing them as signs of respect for its leadership. It runs a special museum for gifts that foreign dignitaries have brought for its leaders.” http://nyti.ms/VKmKA0

The family business - “Brothers of North Korea’s Kim Jong Eun notably absent” by Chico Harlan of The Washington Post. http://wapo.st/TGEo9M

Tweet - @NATOSource: Norwegian fighter jets were scrambled 41 times and identified a total of 71 Russian airplanes in 2012. http://bit.ly/118erEk

Book launch - “Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb” by Brig. Gen. Feroz Khan. Jan. 15th from noon to 1:30pm at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Details and RSVP here. http://bit.ly/UvTuvU

Tweet - @dangerroom: Check out the CIA's highly classified, awesomely bad video presentation to Ronald Reagen on the Soviet space program. http://bit.ly/RC5Gy2