Top News: ANALYSIS: Will U.S. sanctions snapback force Iran out of the NPT? CSIS Iran’s Zarif dismisses US threat to reimpose UN sanctions as ‘foolish’ Middle East Eye Trump says U.S. will beat out Russia and China with ‘super duper missile’ The Guardian United States Trump says U.S. will beat out Russia and China with ‘super duper missile’ The Guardian5/15/20 Unveiling the flag for his new space force in the Oval Office on Friday, Donald Trump said the US was developing a “super duper missile” to outpace military rivals including Russia and China. Roper sees high-low mix for hypersonic missiles Air Force Magazine5/14/20 The Air Force’s Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW, will be the first hypersonic weapon deployed by the U.S., but service acquisition chief Will Roper sees a high- and low-flying mix of hypersonic missiles, complicating an adversary’s defenses, as a longer-term goal. OPINION: On arms control, little reason for optimism Defense OneSteven Pifer 5/17/20 President Trump’s newly named envoy for arms control, Marshall Billingslea, gave a lengthy interview last week on the administration’s approach to nuclear arms negotiations. East Asia China has no intention of engaging in arms control talks — Foreign Ministry TASS5/15/20 According to the Chinese diplomat, Russia and the United States as possessors of the largest nuclear arsenals are to create conditions for other countries to join multilateral arms control deals ANALYSIS: China’s DF-26: A hot swappable missile? Arms Control WonkJosh Pollack 5/17/20 P.W. Singer and Ma Xiu have an important story in PopSci with a nifty find about China’s DF-26 intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which carries either nuclear or conventional payloads. OPINION: After Kim Jong Un Foreign AffairsKatrin Fraser Katz, Victor Cha 5/14/20 Last month’s media frenzy over the health and possible death of the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un seemed in many respects like an indulgent diversion. Middle East Iran’s Zarif dismisses US threat to reimpose UN sanctions as ‘foolish’ Middle East Eye5/14/20 Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has dismissed “foolish” claims by the US that it can reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran if the Security Council does not extend an arms embargo later this year. ANALYSIS: Will U.S. sanctions snapback force Iran out of the NPT? CSISEric Brewer 5/15/20 As U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook made clear in his recent Wall Street Journal op-ed, if the United States fails to secure an extension to the arms embargo against Iran that expires in October, it is willing to try and force the reimposition of UN sanctions on Iran. South Asia ‘Kept prisoner’: Pakistan’s nuclear weapons programme architect Al Jazeera5/15/20 Abdul Qadeer Khan tells top court he is being ‘kept prisoner’ by Pakistani agencies and not allowed to plead his case. Multilateral Arms Control REPORT: Towards greater nuclear restraint: raising the threshold for nuclear weapon use SIPRITytti Erasto, Petr Topychkanov 5/15/20 This report focuses on the risks that a lack of nuclear restraint pose for international security.