Tomorrow the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee will host a hearing on the P5+1 negotiations with Iran. Witnesses will include Wendy Sherman, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs and the U.S.’ lead negotiator on the Iran nuclear talks, and David Cohen, the Treasury Department's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. Last weekend the six-month deadline (July 20th) for the interim Joint Plan of Action passed without a final deal being reached.
Programmes
The U.K. Is Fine With Its Fleet of Nuclear Subs, Thank You Very Much
On 1 July 2014 Elaine Grossman covers the launch of the Trident Commission's concluding report in this article for Defense One. In it, she quotes BASIC's executive director Paul Ingram as saying: “In the end, it comes down to a calculation which involves the value of nuclear weapons in national security strategy against the contributions of strengthening global nonproliferation norms…Britain does have a leadership role which it cannot wash its hands of.
Iran: beyond the concessions and expectations
What will it take for negotiating parties to reach a lasting deal over Iran's nuclear programme–and what does it mean for the non-proliferation regime?
A vote for Scotland’s independence could reverberate through NATO
Research Fellow at the National Defence University, Leo Michel, wrote an op-ed for the LA Times ahead of the Scottish referendum on independence and the implications on the future of the British nuclear forces and NATO. Michel cites the Trident Commission in his article.
Read the full article here: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0725-michel-scotland-independence-nuclear-fo-20140725-story.html
TacNukes News
This newsletter is published by BASIC.
TacNukes News No. 6 and earlier editions were jointly published in cooperation with the Arms Control Association and the Institute for Peace Research and Security at the University of Hamburg. BASIC currently works with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) under a joint project funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Click the link below to see the TacNukes News updates:
Talking about Trident & the Next Generation of Global Threats
BASIC and WMD Awareness kicked off their Talking Trident: A Conversation with the Next Generation event series on July 9th in Shoreditch in east London. These events are a series of debates being held to give young adults in Britain the opportunity to express their opinions on the issue of nuclear weapons before the government makes a decision on whether to renew its nuclear system, Trident, in 2016.
The prospect of success with Iran
This week, Iran and the P5+1/E3+3 group of world powers are under pressure to produce a comprehensive agreement around the former’s nuclear program by a deadline of Sunday, July 20th, or otherwise agree to extend their existing interim arrangement. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were holding direct discussions after several foreign ministers from the P5+1 gathered in Vienna this past weekend to assess progress toward a long-term deal that would provide reassurance that Iran’s program will not be used for producing nuclear weapons.
Iran Nuclear Talks Hit Critical Juncture With Kerry to Join
This article by Jonathan Tirone at Bloomberg about the critical juncture of the Iran talks in July 2014 cites BASIC's executive director Paul Ingram as saying: “There remains deep skepticism on both sides and influential forces aligning against a deal…Complete failure is highly unattractive but a comprehensive solution will also be elusive.”