IRAN
Iran upbeat on U.N. nuclear talks, diplomats skeptical
Fredrick Dahl, Reuters – May 15
Iran gave an upbeat assessment on Tuesday of talks with the U.N. nuclear watchdog about its atomic activity but diplomats voiced doubt inspectors would gain access to a military site where they believe tests of use in making atomic bombs were carried out.
UK warns of more EU Iran sanctions if no change
Reuters – May 14
The European Union will impose tougher sanctions on Iran if it fails to take concrete steps to allay international concerns over its nuclear programme, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday.
Iran, unable to sell oil, stores it on tankers
Joby Warrick and Steven Mufson, Washington Post – May 13
Hobbled by sanctions against its banks and a growing international boycott of its petroleum, Iran is seeing its revenue sag while its oil sits in storage depots and floats in tankers with nowhere to go, U.S. security officials and diplomats say.
NORTH KOREA
White House shoots down GOP proposal for nuclear weapons in South Korea
Julian Pecquet, The Hill (Blog) – May 14
The Obama administration has no intention of deploying tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea in response to North Korean provocations, the State Department reaffirmed on Monday. The comments come after Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee last week adopted an amendment to the 2013 spending bill that expressed support for more conventional forces and for the United States to “redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to the Western Pacific region” in response to nuclear weapons and missile tests by North Korea.
UNITES STATES
Why Spend Money on an Unneeded Facility?
Stephen Young, Roll Call – May 15
The Obama administration’s decision to delay for at least five years construction of the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico […] is the right one.
