Digests and Blog

By the research staff of the Arms Control Association. To get this P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Talks Alert delivered to your inbox, sign-up now. The P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Talks Alert will suspend its daily update until talks resume in August, but will update readers of the latest developments as necessary. Crunch Time Achieving progress this week in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 "is the key to reach a comprehensive agreement" before the Nov. 24 deadline, according to Michael Mann, spokesperson for EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, who spoke to reporters on Sept. 24.…

By Kelsey Davenport U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif last September during the UN General Assembly. Kerry and Zarif met again Sept 21, 2014 to continue nuclear talks. (photo credit: Reuters) In a Sept. 19 letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, 31 Republican senators requested that the administration reveal answers to very specific questions about the U.S. negotiating position on elements of a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran, even as the U.S. diplomats are negotiating with the Iranians in New York. The letter, led by Sen. Mark Kirk…

By Kelsey Davenport As talks between Iran and the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) resume in New York this week, myths and misconceptions about Iran's nuclear program still persist, and threaten to derail negotiations. Until the Nov. 24 deadline, the Arms Control Association will publish a weekly post debunking some of the most commonly held "myths" about Iran's nuclear program and what a comprehensive agreement will seek to achieve. Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment facility (image source: BBC). MISCONCEPTION: An Iranian uranium-enrichment…

By the research staff of the Arms Control Association. To get this P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Talks Alert delivered to your inbox, sign-up now. The P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Talks Alert will suspend its daily update until talks resume in August, but will update readers of the latest developments as necessary. Off to the Races Ministerial-level negotiations during July 2014 meetings between the P5+1 and Iran on its nuclear program. (Reuters) Talks between Iran and the P5+1 resume today with the first full plenary since negotiations were extended in July. Negotiators are meeting in New York City on…

By Jonah Aboni The Iranian nuclear program is a source for international concern. The concern genuinely stems from the suspicion that the Iranian nuclear program might not be exclusively peaceful. Consequently, the United States and its P5+1 partners (China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom) have engaged in diplomatic talks to ensure Tehran's nuclear program is exclusively peaceful. A comprehensive deal is within reach if the diplomats continue to engage in creative trade-offs and move towards bridging the gaps that exist and move away from their entrenched positions. However,…

By Kelsey Davenport IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano talks to press during an Aug. 17 visit to Tehran. (photo: IAEA) Iran is making progress on the additional measures it agreed to take in July to roll back parts of its nuclear program, according to the most recent quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These steps include moving part of Iran's stockpile of uranium powder enriched to 20 percent even further from the potential option of producing weapons-grade uranium. According to the Sept. 5 report, Iran is continuing to comply with the conditions of the Joint…

A tactical Tomahawk cruise missile launch from a Mk-41 VLS. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Leah Stiles/Released.) By Greg Thielmann Russia's compliance record with the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty has emerged as another serious problem in an already strained U.S.-Russian security relationship, and one seemingly bound for an endless, and ultimately, futile discussion. But this need not be the case. If the subject is approached with objectivity and creativity, negotiations could open up a new pathway to reinvigorating the treaty and enhancing…

By the research staff of the Arms Control Association. To get this P5+1 and Iran Nuclear Talks Alert delivered to your inbox, sign-up now. Ashton, Zarif Meet Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief and lead negotiator for the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States), met on Monday in Brussels to discuss the resumption of nuclear talks. After the meeting, Zarif said he was "optimistic" that negotiators could reach an agreement by the November 24 deadline. No date is set, however, for the resumption of…

By Jonah Aboni IAEA inspectors visit an Iranian nuclear facility. Photo credit: jcpa The negotiations by the United States and its P5+1 partners (China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom) to prevent a nuclear –armed Iran have advanced progressively toward a comprehensive deal. Hopefully an agreement will be reached by November 24 to ensure that Iran's nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. As diplomatic efforts begin to crescendo, positive gains so far have still not convinced critics who are opposed to diplomatic negotiations with Iran that a deal is in the best…

The MV Cape Ray at Portsmouth, Virginia. By Greg Thielmann It was exactly one year ago that Syrian government forces unleashed poison gas attacks on an opposition-held suburb of Damascus, killing hundreds of innocent civilians. At the time, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad controlled the world's second largest operational arsenal of chemical weapons, even though he did not acknowledge it. Shortly after the attacks, however, his government admitted holding some 1,300 metric tons of mustard agent and nerve gas precursor chemicals, chemical weapons manufacturing sites, and delivery systems.…