Iran Talks Enter Home Stretch

In Earnest - “With only a month to go before a deadline for a nuclear accord with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry began a major push Saturday to conclude the agreement,” reports Michael Gordon for The New York Times.

--“Mr. Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, met here Saturday for six hours of talks, the first high-level negotiating round since the two sides settled on the outline of an agreement on April 2 in Lausanne, Switzerland.” Full story here. http://nyti.ms/1RFN8ZH

--See also: “Iran Nuclear Talks Accelerate Ahead Of June Deadline,” in The World Post. http://huff.to/1GRCSdC

Summer format - Early Warning will be changing its format starting tomorrow. We will be switching to a bi-weekly publication schedule with issues on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Snapback secured - “Six world powers have agreed on a way to restore U.N. sanctions on Iran if the country breaks the terms of a future nuclear deal, clearing a major obstacle to an accord ahead of a June 30 deadline,” Western officials have told Reuters. “Suspected breaches by Iran would be taken up by a dispute-resolution panel… which would assess the allegations and come up with a non-binding opinion.

--“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would also continue regularly reporting on Iran’s nuclear program… If Iran was found to be in non-compliance with the terms of the deal, then U.N. sanctions would be restored.” Full story by Louis Charbonneau, John Irish and Parisa Hafezi for Reuters. http://reut.rs/1dGMJYH

Tweet - @ArmsControlNow: #MustRead oped by @KelseyDav | In weighing Iran nuclear deal, Booker should stand against Menendez http://bit.ly/1QjW9VM

Missile defense SNAFU - “Two serious technical flaws have been identified in the ground-launched anti-missile interceptors that the United States would rely on to defend against a nuclear attack by North Korea,” reports David Willman for Stars and Stripes. Pentagon officials were informed of the problems as recently as last summer but decided to postpone corrective action.”

--“As a result, all 33 interceptors deployed at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, Calif., and Fort Greely, Alaska, have one of the defects. Ten of those interceptors — plus eight being prepared for delivery this year — have both. Summing up the effect on missile-defense readiness, the GAO report said that ‘the fielded interceptors are susceptible to experiencing … failure modes,’ resulting in ‘an interceptor fleet that may not work as intended.’” Full story here. http://1.usa.gov/1QjWbNj

Stuxnet - “The United States tried to deploy a version of the Stuxnet computer virus to attack North Korea's nuclear weapons programme five years ago but ultimately failed,” reports Joseph Menn for Reuters.

--The U.S. and Israel were widely believed to be behind the computer virus, which was used to successfully sabotage Iran’s enrichment centrifuges in 2009 and 2010. However, in contrast to Iran’s thorough integration into the internet, North Korea is nearly completely isolated, with only a handful of internet connections to the outside world, making a cyberattack very difficult. http://reut.rs/1ctychp

Quick Hits:

--“Iran shares some information in nuclear probe, no breakthrough: IAEA,” by Reuters. http://reut.rs/1AFCdLF

--“Can We Continue the Iran Interim Agreement Indefinitely?” by Ali Gharib in LobeLog. http://bit.ly/1d9g7Gc

Events:

--“70th Anniversary of the Manhattan Project” event from the Atomic Heritage Foundation featuring remarks from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Patrick Gregerson, Alex Wellerstein, Denise Kiernan, Robert Norris, Richard Rhodes and many more. June 2-3. RSVP and full agenda here. http://bit.ly/1Q8oIFE

--“Weighing Concerns and Assurances about a Nuclear Deal with Iran” New report launch from the Iran Project, featuring Amb. Thomas Pickering, Jessica T. Mathews, Gen. James Cartwright and Gary Samore. June 3rd from 12:00-1:00pm at the Wilson Center. http://bit.ly/1SAh2Qx

--“The Strategic Implications of the Iran Nuclear Deal” featuring Mark Fitzpatrick and Trita Parsi. June 4th from 10:00-11:00am at IISS. http://bit.ly/1KkywdY

--Ploughshares Fund annual gala featuring Reza Aslan, Barbara Slavin and Gen. James Cartwright. June 8th from 6:00-8:30pm in San Francisco. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1LI0ssx

Dessert:

Godzilla - Godzilla’s new video game omits one of the movie monster’s trademark aspects--his radioactive nature.

--“We realize radiation is something that can never be disassociated with Godzilla," says game producer Shunsuke Fujita. Godzilla’s origin as the product of nuclear testing has had a special resonance in Japan due to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but references to radiation are contentious after 2011’s Fukushima reactor meltdown. The AP has the full story. http://bit.ly/1EO0ERT