Top News North Korea ‘won’t disarm if sanctions continue’, minister says BBC News Russia’s Most Advanced (And Stealthly) Nuclear Submarine Ever Just Went to Sea National Interest Iran nuclear crisis II Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists East Asia Trump Backs Off Timetable for North Korean Denuclearization Wall Street Journal9/26/2018 Plans for a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un advanced as the president said the U.S. would no longer insist that Pyongyang move to rapidly dismantle its nuclear arsenal. Trump: New Sanctions Will Force Iran Back to Nuclear Talks Voice of America9/27/2018 U.S. President Donald Trump said “Iran has to come back and they have to talk” if it wants to avoid a new round of economic sanctions. Speaking to reporters in New York Wednesday, the president defended his decision to withdraw from the 2015 six-nation agreement for Tehran to give up its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of crippling economic sanctions. North Korea ‘won’t disarm if sanctions continue’, minister says BBC News9/29/2018 Ri Yong-ho told the UN General Assembly the sanctions were deepening North Korean mistrust of the US. Pyongyang has repeatedly appealed for UN and US sanctions to be lifted and has support from Russia and China. But the Trump Administration has said that sanctions should stay in place until North Korea denuclearises. North Korea says ‘no way’ will disarm unilaterally without trust Reuters9/29/2018 North Korea’s foreign minister told the United Nations on Saturday continued sanctions were deepening its mistrust in the United States and there was no way the country would give up its nuclear weapons unilaterally under such circumstances. Mike Pompeo floats prospect of officially ending Korean War ahead of Trump-Kim summit CBS News9/28/2018 Given the Trump administration’s goal of a complete, verifiable denuclearization of North Korea during President Trump’s first term, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is eager to maintain U.S.-North Korean engagement. As he prepares for upcoming discussions with the North Koreans, he is leaving one tool conspicuously on the table: the prospect of an official declaration to end the Korean War. China takes a big step forward in its quest for an unstoppable nuclear precision strike weapon, state media claims Business Insider9/29/2018 China has tested three types of hypersonic aircraft models at the same time, marking another solid step into the development of hypersonic weapons, state media reported. Middle East Japan, Iran agree to uphold Iran nuke deal despite U.S. pullout Kydo News9/27/2018 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani agreed Wednesday to uphold the 2015 Iran nuclear deal even after President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement in May. Russia/FSU/Europe Russia’s Most Advanced (And Stealthly) Nuclear Submarine Ever Just Went to Sea National Interest9/29/2018 Russia’s second Severodvinsk-class submarine K-561 Kazan , which is a modified Project 08851 Yasen-M design, went to sea for the first time for builder’s trials on September 24. US and Russia to discuss nuclear weapons treaty extension in October Financial Times9/25/2018 Russia and the US will hold talks on a potential extension to the New START nuclear weapons treaty in Geneva in October, a Russian official said on Tuesday. Opinion and Analysis Is the Iran Deal Finally Dead? Foreign PolicyMichael Hirsh 9/25/2018 Could there be a starker test of global power balances than what is occurring at the United Nations over Iran this week? On Monday, a grinning Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, stood next to Federica Mogherini, the European Union foreign affairs chief, as she announced elaborate plans in New York to undercut U.S. President Donald Trump and save the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, including a “special vehicle” designed to bypass U.S. financial sanctions. In a rare joint statement, France, Germany, Britain, Russia, and China all declared themselves behind the plan. Iran nuclear crisis II Bulletin of the Atomic ScientistsKaveh L. Afrasiabi 9/26/2018 It has been a year since the US president, Donald Trump, gave a fire-and-brimstone speech at his first appearance before the United Nations—and a little over four months since he pulled the United States out of the Iran deal. There was harsh rhetoric from Trump about Iran on Tuesday at the opening of the 2018 UN General Assembly and the meeting still has eight working days to go. So, it is fair to wonder about worst-case scenarios regarding Iran. Here to give an Iranian viewpoint is a former political science professor from Tehran University, who specializes in the country’s nuclear affairs—and who was also a former adviser to Iran’s nuclear negotiation team. Small question, big consequences: Is North Korea a nuclear power? Military TimesFoster Klug 9/28/2018 As President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un stand on the brink of a widely expected Summit No. 2 to unstick deadlocked nuclear diplomacy, a crucial but often overlooked question looms: Is North Korea actually a nuclear power?