Risks and Realities of Extending the UN Arms Embargo on Iran

Viewpoint by Kelsey Davenport and Daryl K. Kimball

This article first appeared as Issue Brief of the Arms Control Association on 5 March 2020. Kelsey Davenport is director for nonproliferation policy, and Daryl G. Kimball, executive director, Arms Control Association.

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN) — More than a decade ago, the United States and its partners secured UN Security Council support for a series of resolutions imposing increasingly tough sanctions on Iran as part of an effort to pressure Tehran into multilateral talks to curb its nuclear program and block its pathways to nuclear weapons. [2020-03-05]

Relentless Spread of Coronavirus Obliges Postponing the 2020 NPT Review to 2021

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

VIENNA (IDN) — As Spring is in the offing, the days are drawing near when representatives of up to 191 countries will convene at a review conference at the United Nations in New York, from 27 April to 22 May, to celebrate 50 years of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) being in force. Coincidentally, this also will be the tenth in a series of quinquennial NPT review conferences  [2020-03-02]

Uncertainty Haunts the Future of Non-Proliferation Treaty and Disarmament

Viewpoint by Tariq Rauf *

Photo courtesy of UNITAR Hiroshima Office.

HIROSHIMA (IDN)—August 6 and August 9 will mark the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. No sentient human being who has met or seen the hibakusha (survivors), or visited the hypocentres in the two cities, or seen the photographic evidence of the destruction of these two Japanese cities, can avoid being shocked and horrified by the devastation that nuclear weapons inflicted. [2020-02-28 | 30] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | KOREAN | MALAY | THAI

U.S. Abrogation of Iran Deal Leaves a Puzzling Legacy

By Bernhard Schell

Image source: Forum IAS.

ISTANBUL (IDN) – Iran has been bashed for its January 5 announcement that it would no longer abide by certain "operational restrictions" on uranium enrichment in the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The declaration has also prompted doubts about the regime's activities and intentions and the fate of the nuclear deal. [2020-02-15-29] ARABIC | ITALIAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | PORTUGUESE | SPANISH

Towards Nuclear Disarmament with Monitoring and Verification

By Radwan Jakeem

Photo: Twenty-two participants from 11 IPNDV partner countries gathered at Forschungszentrum Jülich in Jülich, Germany on September 23, 2019 to participate in the Nuclear Disarmament Verification Exercise, jointly organized by France and Germany. Credit: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Tobias Schlößer.

 NEW YORK (IDN) – With the international community persistently striving for a world free of nuclear weapons, verification systems and methods are crucial to understanding the complex challenges of accurately monitoring and verifying future nuclear disarmament activities which will likely subject countries to more intrusive verification than ever before. [2020-02-14-28] JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | NORWEGIAN | SWEDISH | TURKISH

Buddhist Leader Urges Nuclear Weapons Free Common Security

By Ramesh Jaura

Photo: SGI president Daisaku Ikeda. Credit: Seikyo Shimbun

BERLIN | TOKYO (IDN) – An eminent Buddhist philosopher and nuclear disarmament advocate has tabled four critical initiatives to "contribute to the creation of a sustainable global society where all can live with dignity and a sense of security". The initiatives cover four major areas: building support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW); multilateral negotiations for nuclear disarmament; climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR); and education for children in crisis. [2020-02-13] JAPANESE | 

Sri Lanka Committed to Non-Proliferation and Disarmament

By Jaya Ramachandran

Collage courtesy of Sri Lanka’s Daily FT

GENEVA | COLOMBO (IDN) – In an exceptional move, Germany has granted funds to Sri Lanka’s Forum on Disarmament and Development (FDD) for the translation of the texts of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty (CTBT) to the island state’s official languages Sinhala and Tamil. NPT and CTBT texts were until now available only in official languages of the United Nations: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. [2020-01-31-27] GERMAN | HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF

Climate and Nuclear Weapons Are the Focus of Buddhist Leader's Peace Proposals

By Taro Ichikawa

Photo: A view of participants in the UN Youth Climate Summit on 21 September 2019. Credit: UN.

TOKYO (IDN) – Climate action and nuclear weapons abolition, with a focus on the individual lives and suffering often hidden behind macroeconomic indices, is the main theme of the 38th annual peace proposal by Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist network. [2020-01-27]

Russia Exhorts US to Extend New START Without Preconditions

By Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos

Image credit: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

WASHINGTON, DC (IDN | Arms Control Association) – Russian officials repeated in late December and early January President Vladimir Putin’s call for extending the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) as soon as possible, though Washington continues to remain silent on the future of the accord, which is scheduled to expire in just over 12 months.[2020-01-23]

Experts Plead for Foiling Collapse of the Iran Nuclear Deal

By Radwan Jakeem

Photo: The ministers of foreign affairs of the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, France, China, the European Union and Iran meeting in Lausanne in March 2015, a few weeks ahead of the nuclear deal was struck in Vienna. Credit: U.S. Department of State.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Since U.S. President Donald Trump abandoned the JCPOA, also known as the "Iran nuclear deal", in May 2018, a widespread view is that the regime in Tehran is yearning for an atomic bomb.

Washington experts, however, maintain that while Iran’s violations of the JCPOA “are serious, they are reversible and they do not suggest, as some have alleged, that Iran is dashing to acquire a nuclear bomb“. [2020-01-15]