Top News: ANALYSIS: What’s driving China’s nuclear buildup? Carnegie Endowment for International Peace ANALYSIS: A glimpse of Chinese ballistic missile submarines CSIS Nuclear talks enter danger zone as powers await Iran’s word Bloomberg East Asia ANALYSIS: What’s driving China’s nuclear buildup? Carnegie Endowment for International PeaceTong Zhao 8/5/21 Satellite data has revealed the construction of new nuclear missile silos in Gansu and Xinjiang in western China. How U.S. and Chinese experts interpret the buildup and the motivations behind it could greatly reshape their security relationship. ANALYSIS: Just how many nuclear weapons does North Korea have? 1945Eli Fuhrman 8/5/21 The security challenges posed by the combination of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles remain significant. Recent years have seen North Korea make significant strides in its development of more capable ballistic missiles, and the DPRK is now estimated to have as many as eight intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of striking the continental United States. ANALYSIS: A glimpse of Chinese ballistic missile submarines CSISMatthew P. Funaiole, Joseph S. Bermudez Jr., and Brian Hart 8/4/21 Unlike aircraft carriers, destroyers, and other large surface vessels, submarines spend much of their time out of sight, making them much harder to track and analyze. ANALYSIS: China flexes nuclear muscle to burnish its big power credentials Financial TimesKathrin Hille 8/4/21 Rapid development of arsenal suggests Beijing will forsake its ‘minimum deterrence’ policy. Middle East Nuclear talks enter danger zone as powers await Iran’s word Bloomberg8/5/21 The climate has turned gloomy around world powers’ talks with Iran to revive a frayed nuclear accord, as a new ultraconservative Iranian president formally takes over Thursday and a crisis in Persian Gulf shipping lanes threatens to deepen. Iran swears in new hard-line president amid regional tension Associated Press8/5/21 The former judiciary chief known for his distrust of the West takes the reins at a tense time. Iran’s indirect talks with the U.S. to salvage Tehran’s landmark 2015 nuclear deal have stalled, as Washington maintains crippling sanctions on the country and regional hostilities simmer. As Iran’s hard-line new president takes office, Biden faces tough choices NBC News8/5/21 Iran is gambling that hardball tactics will force concessions from the U.S., but the regime risks overplaying its hand, experts say. OPINION: A breakout moment for a new approach to Iran The Wall Street JournalReuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh 8/4/21 Neither arms control nor military force is realistic. What would a more practical policy look like? International Affairs ANALYSIS: Arms control’s brighter future ASPIPaul Bracken 8/5/21 I am reasonably confident that arms control will come back and that it has a brighter future than almost anyone today imagines. It will likely be a different kind of arms control whose shape isn’t yet clear. But this only means that we should begin thinking now about what its contours should be. ANALYSIS: Ditch the NPT Global Politics and StrategyJoelien Pretorius and Tom Sauer 7/27/21 Without the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, nuclear-armed states and their allies could no longer rely on their skewed interpretation of it to legitimise continued possession of nuclear weapons.