Top News Israel Reveals nuclear documents its spies stole from Iran Axios Trump says summit off to ‘a very good start’ after two-hour private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin CNBC Iran urges Europe to provide guarantees on commitment to nuclear deal Xinhua EAST ASIA Trump: Why isn’t ‘fake news’ talking about North Korea? The Hill7/15/18 “There hasn’t been a missile or rocket fired in 9 months in North Korea, there have been no nuclear tests and we got back our hostages. Who knows how it will all turn out in the end, but why isn’t the Fake News talking about these wonderful facts? Because it is FAKE NEWS!” Trump tweeted. Japan- US nuclear deal set to be renewed NHK World- Japan7/16/18 Tokyo is expected to call for understanding from Washington over Japan’s growing plutonium stockpile as a nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States renews on Tuesday. MIDDLE EAST Inside Israel’s Raid to Seize Nuclear Documents in Iran The Wall Street Journal7/15/18 Israeli agents covertly extracted documents detailing Iran’s nuclear program in a dramatic 6½-hour operation in Tehran in January, removing a trove of materials that included partial designs for a nuclear warhead, senior Israeli intelligence officials said. Iran nuclear deal: US rejects EU plea for sanctions exemption BBC7/16/18 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin wrote in a letter that they wanted to exert “unprecedented” pressure on Tehran. Waivers will only be given on national security or humanitarian grounds. Israel Reveals nuclear documents its spies stole from Iran Axios7/15/18 Earlier this year, Israel spies stole a stack of documents from Iran, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used as part of his push to lobby President Trump to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. Iran urges Europe to provide guarantees on commitment to nuclear deal Xinhua7/15/18 Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said here Sunday that Europe must provide Tehran with necessary guarantees about their commitment to the implementation of the Iranian nuclear deal, Press TV reported. SOUTH ASIA Agni-V Canister Launch: Facts and Implications Modern Diplomacy7/16/18 India’s acquisition and development of such deterrent of conventional and nuclear forces is a matter of concern for Pakistan and Chinese security planners. In response, it is inevitable for Pakistan to take measures for its security and safety. Pokhran II: ‘Cricket to trick spy satellites, billiards to keep bombs safe’ Times of India7/15/18 It’s been 20 years since India stunned the world with Pokhran II. It wasn’t the fact that India had nuclear technology, but the realization that India was able to conduct these tests without the rest of the world not having a clue as to what was going on in a remote location in Rajasthan’s Jaisalmer, despite having the place under constant satellite surveillance. RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE Trump says summit off to ‘a very good start’ after two-hour private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin CNBC07/16/18 In order to calm new fears of a budding arms race, Trump said he would discuss reducing nuclear weapons with Putin. “If we can do something to substantially reduce them, I mean, ideally get rid of them, maybe that’s a dream, but certainly it’s a subject that I’ll be bringing up with him,” Trump said last week. “The proliferation is a tremendous, I mean, to me, it’s the biggest problem in the world, nuclear weapons, biggest problem in the world.” Trump meets Putin in Helsinki: Our Nuclear Power Is a ‘Negative Force’ Haaretz7/16/18 As the two leaders prepared to begin their summit, Trump told reporters that the U.S. and China “are the world’s two biggest nuclear powers…That’s a bad thing, not a good thing…I hope we can do something about that.” Trump, Putin expected to talk nuclear arms race CBS News7/14/18 In March, while forecasting a face-to-face meeting on this topic with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump said in the same breath that an arms race was “getting out of control” and that he would never allow any country to have weapons “even close to what we have,” although Russia already does. U.S. NUCLEAR POLICY INL specialists left plutonium in their car. In the morning, it was gone Idaho Statesman7/16/18 No public announcement of the March 21 incident has been made by either the San Antonio police or by the FBI, which the police consulted by telephone. When asked, officials declined to say exactly how much plutonium and cesium were missing. OPINION AND ANALYSIS Go Deeper: The nuclear arms deals in focus for Trump-Putin Jonathan Swan, Axios 7/15/18 When I asked President Trump on Friday what were the three or four things he wanted to achieve from his meeting with Putin, his answers contained no detail. Exclusive: Revealing Kangson, North Korea’s First Covert Uranium Enrichment Site Ankit Panda, The Diplomat 7/13/18 The facility is North Korea’s first covert uranium enrichment facility, known by the U.S. intelligence community as the Kangson enrichment site. It is where, for more than a decade—possibly as long as fifteen years—North Korea has been enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Is Pakistan prone to nuclear terrorism? Sonia Naz, Daily Times 7/16/18 After 9/11, terrorism generated negative perceptions about the nuclear security of Pakistan. The western community often pressurises Pakistan that its nuclear weapons can go into the wrong hands. Nations mostly obtain nuclear weapons for the international prestige, but Pakistan is one of those states which obtained the nuclear capability to defend itself from India which has supremacy in conventional weapons. The Risk to the World: Massive Nuclear Proliferation David Axe, Daily Beast 07/15/18 Donald Trump every so often suggests he’d like to pull the United States out of the the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, knowing full well that would be the end of NATO as we’ve known it for almost 70 years. And such hints, the most recent of them last week at a summit in Brussels, must make Vladimir Putin’s crocodile smile spread from ear to ear. How President Trump Could Reset the Russia Conversation With an Arms Deal W.J. Hennigan, Time 7/15/18 Trump has decided to go through with it anyway, eager to discuss a wide-range of topics in hopes of resetting the conversation, including an opportunity for the two leaders to negotiate a deal around nuclear weapons reductions. SPECIAL INTEREST All you wanted to know about nuclear war but were too afraid to ask The Guardian7/16/18 The use of a nuclear weapon is now more likely than any time since the cold war, but the probability of humanity being wiped out entirely has diminished.