Iran
Impact of Iran Sanctions Widens
Rick Gladstone, New York Times – April 4, 2012
The Iran sanctions effort led by the United States appeared to be causing new fractures in the Iranian economy on Tuesday, with leading oil companies in South Africa and Greece suspending imports of Iran’s crude oil, further signs of emergency self-reliance emerging in Iran, and an influential former Iranian president publicly challenging his country’s anti-American stoicism.
Can Brazil Stop Iran?
Bernard Aronson, New York Times – April 3, 2012
Brazil, the saying used to go, is the land of the future — and always will be. But when Brazil’s president, Dilma Rousseff, visits the White House next week, she will come as the leader of a country whose future has arrived.
Don’t Fear a Nuclear Armed Iran
Stephen A. Cook, NPR – April 3, 2012
On March 21, Haaretz correspondent Ari Shavit wrote a powerful op-ed in the New York Times that began with this stark and stunning claim: “An Iranian atom bomb will force Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Egypt to acquire their own atom bombs.” Indeed, it has become axiomatic among Middle East watchers, nonproliferation experts, Israel’s national security establishment, and a wide array of U.S. government officials that Iranian proliferation will lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. President Barack Obama himself, in a speech to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) last month, said that if Iran went nuclear, it was “almost certain that others in the region would feel compelled to get their own nuclear weapon.
Self-Defeating
Trita Parsi, Daily Beast – April 3, 2012
Netanyahu’s government and its supporters argue that a strike on Iran will benefit Israel and America. But a strike on Iran won’t destory it’s nuclear facilities, and are more likely benefit than harm Iran in the long run.
Iraq Says Iran Proposes Baghdad as Nuclear Talks Venue
Reuters – April 4, 2012
Iran has proposed holding the next round of talks with six world powers over its disputed nuclear program next week in Iraq instead of Turkey, Iraq’s foreign minister said on Wednesday.
Korean Peninsula
Ahead of Threatened NKorean Rocket Launch, Nuke Agency Cautious on Offer to Visit
Associated Press – April 3, 2012
As international tensions rise over a planned North Korean rocket launch, the U.N. nuclear agency is taking a wait-and-see attitude on an offer from the North to allow agency experts back into the country, according to a letter shared Tuesday with The Associated Press.
Images Show North Korea Launch Work
Foster Klug, Associated Press – April 2, 2012
New satellite images of a North Korean rocket launch site show a mobile radar trailer and rows of what appear to be empty fuel and oxidizer tanks, evidence of ramped-up preparation for what Washington calls a cover for a long-range missile test.
Missile Defense
Kyl Continues Offensive Against Obama on Missile Defense
Jeremy Herb, The Hill – April 3, 2012
Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) continued a Republican offensive against President Obama on missile defense for his comments last week to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev where Obama asked for “space” and “flexibility” until after the election.
India
India to Test Long-Range Missile in Two Weeks
Nuclear Threat Initiative – April 2, 2012
India intends in two weeks to conduct the initial trial of its experimental Agni 5 ballistic missile, the head of the country’s Defense Research and Development Organization said on Saturday.
