A nuclear mushroom cloud: Something we hope we never have to witness. ~llaw
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He has issued direct nuclear threats, suspended certain commitments … nuclear attack, thus hindering the United States’ ability to respond effectively …
A very old photo of me: : Lloyd Albert Williams-Pendergraft stationed at the US Army 4th Cavalry division headquarters in 1962, just a few miles south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with North Korea.
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Heard on All Things Considered · Geoff Brumfiel, photographed for NPR, 17 … President Trump signed executive orders which seek to reorganize America’s …
At the White House, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said America led the postwar world on “all things nuclear” until we “stagnated” and “choked it with …
Trump declared a national energy emergency on his first day in office over and moved to undo a ban implemented by Joe Biden on new natural gas export …
Tehran would implement “special measures for the protection of its nuclear facilities and materials”—a thinly veiled threat to move its most sensitive …
… threat to continental peace. ADVERTISEMENT. Since the start of his second term, Trump has made threats against Greenland, and caused confusion with …
… New 34K views · 6:27 · Go to channel. Iran VS Israel Ready: Are We on the Brink of a Nuclear War? | U.S. Talks Collapse. DD India New 3.8K views · 9: …
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LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion:
This is my own opinion and key paragraph from following this debacle from the beginning up to today, and soon on to the hoped-for peaceful success or, alas, the dangerous failure of the agreement meetings:
“At this juncture, the key issue is exactly the opposite of the very 1st meeting when Trump contradicted his own emissary, negotiator Steve Witkoff, when he publicly announced shortly after to Iran that they could not enrich any uranium at all. That issue has since been clear, unclear, clear, and unclear again, so Iran has no idea what the end result(s) of the meetings will be, but it sounds more like “war” and the attempted destruction of Iran’s nuclear facilities when you consider the noise from both Trump’s USA and Netanyahu’s Israel.”
Iran has also said, after Friday’s meeting in Rome, that the agreement details are too complicated to resolve without more talks, but Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the problem was not “rocket science” — “Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal.” ~llaw
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran on May 1. Planet Labs PBC/AP
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi attends a news conference in Baghdad, on December 6.
Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
Tehran, IranCNN —
Iran and the United States concluded a fifth round of high-stakes nuclear talks in Rome on Friday amid growing skepticism in Tehran about the chances of a deal as Washington hardens its position.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday nuclear talks with the US “are too complicated to be resolved in two or three meetings.”
Araghchi, however, said Iran and US delegations, “have completed one of the most professional rounds of negotiations,” in a televised interview on Iran state-run IRIB news.
Two Iranian sources have told CNN the talks seem unlikely to lead to an agreement, with the US insisting that Tehran dismantles its uranium enrichment program – a demand Iranian officials say would cause the nuclear negotiations to collapse.
The sources said Iran’s participation in the Rome talks is solely to gauge Washington’s latest stance rather than pursue a potential breakthrough.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated Tehran’s red lines before he departed for Rome on Friday.
“Figuring out the path to a deal is not rocket science,” he posted on X before his flight. “Zero nuclear weapons = we DO have a deal. Zero enrichment = we do NOT have a deal.”
The Trump administration has demanded Iran stop all uranium enrichment activity, which lead US negotiator Steve Witkoff says “enables weaponization.” Uranium, a key nuclear fuel, can be used to build a bomb if enriched to high levels. Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful and says it is willing to commit not to enrich uranium to weapons-grade as part of an agreement.
Araghchi met on Friday with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi in Rome “during the continuation of this round of talks,” and the two ministers “reviewed the latest status of today’s talks and consulted on how to continue the work,” Iran’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The time and place of the next round of talks will be determined and announced later,” the statement added. US officials have yet to comment publicly on the outcome of Friday’s talks.
Al-Busaidi, who mediated the talks, said, “We hope to clarify the remaining issues in the coming days, to allow us to proceed towards the common goal of reaching a sustainable and honourable agreement,” in a post on X on Friday.
Araghchi also thanked Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani for hosting Friday’s talks in a phone call, hoping that “by creating a clearer understanding of the principled positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the American side, tangible progress can be achieved.”
Speaking Thursday, Araghchi said Iran was open to enhanced monitoring by international inspectors but would not relinquish its right to pursue nuclear energy, including uranium enrichment. Washington is offering to wind back crippling economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for de-nuclearization.
The US had previously sent mixed signals about whether Iran would be allowed to enrich uranium, but in recent weeks it has hardened its stance, insisting that no enrichment will be permitted.
This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Bushehr nuclear reactor in Iran on May 1.
Planet Labs PBC/AP
That shift has prompted officials in Tehran to question Washington’s commitment to a deal, as Iran has repeatedly said enrichment is a red line in negotiations.
The two Iranian sources told CNN that Tehran harbors mounting doubts about the US’ sincerity in talks.
“The media statements and negotiating behavior of the United States has widely disappointed policy-making circles in Tehran,” the sources said in a joint message. “From the perspective of decision-makers in Tehran, when the US knows that accepting zero enrichment in Iran is impossible and yet insists on it, it is a sign that the US is fundamentally not seeking an agreement and is using the negotiations as a tool to intensify pressure.”
Initially, the sources noted, some Iranian officials believed Washington might seek a “win-win” compromise. However, a consensus has now emerged that the Trump administration is steering discussions toward a deadlock.
The sources said that although neither the US nor Iran wants to leave the negotiating table, the position of the US is making the talks unproductive and formal meetings are unlikely to continue much longer.
They said that Tehran no longer takes seriously US efforts to distance itself from Israel’s hardline stance on Iran, and it sees proposals made by the American side as following the agenda of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has insisted that no enrichment be allowed in Iran.
On Friday, Iranian delegates in Rome aim to probe whether the US has revised its approach. The sources suggested that Tehran will likely take a tougher stance unless the US offers tangible concessions.
US imposes more sanctions before talks
Washington has kept up the pressure on Iran with fresh sanctions and threats of war even as diplomatic talks continue.
On Wednesday, the US State Department announced new measures, identifying Iran’s construction sector as being “controlled directly or indirectly” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and 10 strategic materials that it said Iran is using in connection with its nuclear, military or ballistic missile programs.
“With these determinations, the United States has broader sanctions authorities to prevent Iran from acquiring strategic materials for its construction sector under IRGC control and its proliferation programs,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson criticized US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the move, calling it “as outrageous as it is unlawful and inhuman.”
“The US’s consecutive rounds of sanctions only reinforce our people’s deeply held belief that the American decision makers are set to make every malign effort to hinder Iran’s development & progress. These sanctions, announced on the eve of the fifth round of Iran-US indirect talks, further put to question the American willingness & seriousness for diplomacy,” Baqaei wrote on X.
A ‘misreading of Iranian psychology’
Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group in Brussels, said there is a misguided perception in Washington that a weakened Iran is more likely to compromise.
“The weaker Iran is, the more reluctant it will be to make major concessions,” he said, adding that it is unlikely that Tehran will agree to a deal that is based solely on US terms.
“That’s a complete misreading of Iranian psychology,” Vaez said. For Iran, capitulation is seen as a worse than an Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities, he added.
“Iran would be reluctant to make concessions from a position of weakness, because if it does so, then it will put itself on a slippery slope that could result in regime collapse,” Vaez said.
Multiple American officials told CNN this week that the US has obtained new intelligence suggesting that Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities even as the Trump administration pursues a diplomatic deal with Tehran.
But threats of war will only lead to Iran “doubling down on its current position,” Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House think tank, told CNN. “The best way to invigorate the talks would be through backchannelling and quiet discussions between both sides.”
In an interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto on Thursday, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee signaled potential American support for Israel’s nuclear plans under the right conditions.
“I can’t imagine the US would object to a sovereign nation defending itself against what they perceive as a legitimate threat to their very lives,” Huckabee said.
He acknowledged that the US is aware Israel is making preparations for potential military action.
“We certainly are aware of what the Israelis are at least preparing for. But it’s not that they have made a firm decision. I think they recognize they face an existential threat from Iran.”
Experts say an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would likely spell the end of its negotiations with the US, and could even prompt Tehran to withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), which promotes nuclear disarmament.
Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute in Washington, DC, said the Trump administration has “unnecessarily walked themselves into a dead-end by insisting on zero enrichment,” fueling the idea that Israeli strikes will follow if Iran doesn’t back down. Iran, he added, is probably not taking those threats seriously.
But if they do materialize in the midst of nuclear talks with the US, he said, Tehran is likely to respond with massive retaliation. “They won’t play the patience game any longer,” Parsi said.
“If the Israelis were to do anything, it has to be clearly understood that it is not about destroying the program at this point, because they don’t have that capability.” Parsi added. “It is only about destroying diplomacy.”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Nadeen Ebrahim, Angus Watson, Mostafa Salem, Katrina Samaan and Leila Gharagozlou contributed to this report.
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“And if such countries pose a threat to us, we reserve the right to use our nuclear weapons against them. “We have announced that if the same threats …
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, in Bushehr, Iran on November 10, 2019.
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion:
Every day this Iran, USA, and now, once again, Israel, situation grows more complicated, more difficult, and more dangerous. The United States seems to be doing a version of “burning Rome” while secretly hoping that the next talks fail, and maybe letting Israel do the dirty work? The next conference is supposed to be tomorrow (Friday) in Rome. I’m wondering if that will happen, and if it does, how long it will last, and whether such an agreement will be put back in order on its original course.
But it seems Iran is critically on top of the entire mess and will, of course, hold the U.S. responsible for any and all variables resulting from Trump, who once upon a time originated the talks by his own invitation to Iran, inviting the two countries to get together and work out an agreement — or a “deal” using Trump’s vernacular —between the two countries, and since\ then it has gone extremely sideways with Trump’s complications. Even Israel, who Trump claimed month’s ago that he had convinced to lay down their arms, is apparently ignoring Trump’s rebuke.
And now it’s also become extremely dangerous with these new war issues on the table. There is only one participant to blame, and that is Donald J. Trump — who has hemmed, hawed, drug his feet, contradicted, and otherwise complicated and confused not only any productive meetings with Iran, but also confused his own emissaries by his constant threats, his twisting, turning, and his verbal demands reversing the playing field rules, obviously irritating both Israel and Iran to the point of conflict. ~llaw
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, in Bushehr, Iran on November 10, 2019.
Iran warns Israel, US against any attack on its nuclear sites
By Reuters
May 22, 20255:42 AM PDT Updated 8 hours ago
DUBAI, May 22 (Reuters) – The United States will bear legal responsibility in the event of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Thursday, following a CNN report that Israel might be preparing strikes on Iran.
Iran and the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, will hold a fifth round of nuclear talks on Friday in Rome amid deep disagreement over uranium enrichment in Iran, which Washington says could lead to developing nuclear bombs. Iran denies such intent.
Citing intelligence sources, CNN said on Tuesday it was not clear whether Israel had made a final decision on military action and that U.S. officials disagreed about whether the Israelis would ultimately decide to attack.
“Iran strongly warns against any adventurism by the Zionist regime of Israel and will decisively respond to any threat or unlawful act by this regime,” Araqchi said in a letter addressed to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Araqchi said Iran would view Washington as a “participant” in any such attack, and Tehran would have to adopt “special measures” to protect its nuclear sites and material if threats continued, and the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency would be subsequently informed of such steps.
Although Araqchi did not specify what measures were being considered, an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader said in April that Tehran could suspend cooperation with the IAEA or transfer enriched material to safe and undisclosed locations.
In a separate statement released on Thursday, Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards warned Israel would receive a “devastating and decisive response” if it attacks Iran.
“They are trying to frighten us with war but are miscalculating as they are unaware of the powerful popular and military support the Islamic Republic can muster in war conditions,” Guards spokesperson Alimohammad Naini said.
A collapse of U.S.-Iran negotiations or a new nuclear deal that does not alleviate Israeli concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons through enrichment could motivate Israeli strikes on its regional arch-foe, diplomats say.
00:13 Under pressure, Israel lets some bread and baby food reach Gazans
On Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said U.S. demands that Tehran stop refining uranium were “excessive and outrageous,” and he voiced doubt over whether talks on a new nuclear deal would succeed.
Tehran maintains its nuclear energy programme is exclusively for civilian purposes.
Iran and Israel engaged in direct exchanges of fire last year, in April and October, raising the risk of regional conflict.
Reporting by Dubai Newsroom; editing by Mark HeinrichSubscribed
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Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.
A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
The United States would be held responsible in the event of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites, Iran’s foreign minister has warned, after CNN …
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion:
Now that there are media rumors of Israel launching its own missiles at Iran’s nuclear facilities despite the fact of Trump’s publicly telling us several weeks ago that he had convinced Netanyahu and his Israeli military to stand down, I have decided to hopefully let that clear the air by tomorrow. However, there are links to articles from CNN and Reuters in today’s collection of “LLAW’s Nuclear World News” available below for interested readers. I intend to recap and add new rumors and innuendos in tomorrow’s “LLAW’s All Nuclear World News” and report in this section as usual.
So, in the meantime I have decided to revive Trump’s “Golden Dome” nuclear war defense against incoming missiles of incoming nations in this report that agrees with my last post on this subject a while back from “The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists” that everything about such a likely useless system including financial billions, perhaps a few trillions, to launch it would be a waste of every dollar. The present “404” article below tells us that $500 billion has already been spent and Trump is expecting a couple hundred billion more.
I will add that even though neither article mentions it, I would suspect that any thoughtful enemy country would likely launch their nuclear arsenal against us and the Trump’s “Golden Dome” sometime during the remaining 3+ years of Trump’s present term that he says will be finished by then, which would make an immanent attack much likely to arrive sooner rather than later. ~llaw
Artistic image of America’s “Golden Dome” nuclear missile defense program ~ llaw
The U.S. has one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world. Its dream has long been that it could launch these nukes and suffer no repercussions for doing so. Ronald Reagan called it the Strategic Defense Initiative. His critics called it Star Wars. Trump is calling it the “Golden Dome.” Scientists who’ve studied the issue say it’s pure fantasy.
One of Trump’s early executive orders tasked the Pentagon with coming up with an “Iron Dome for America” that could knock nuclear weapons and other missiles out of the sky before they hit U.S. targets. His supporters changed the name to the “Golden Dome” a few weeks later.
The idea—originally pioneered by Reagan—is to launch a bunch of satellites with interceptors that can knock missiles out of the sky before they hit America. Over the past seven decades, the U.S. has spent $400 billion on this dream. Thanks to Trump’s Golden Dome scheme, it’s about to spend $175 billions more.
In a press conference Tuesday, Trump announced that the project would start soon. “It’s something we want. Ronald Reagan wanted it many years ago but they didn’t have the technology,” Trump said during the press conference. He promised it would be “fully operation before the end of my term. So we’ll have it done in about three years.”
Trump claimed the system would be able to deal with all kinds of threats “Including hypersonic missiles, ballistic missiles, and advanced cruise missiles. All of them will be knocked out of the air. We will truly be completing the job that Ronald Reagan started 40 years ago, forever eliminating the missile threat to the American homeland,” he said. “The success rate is very close to 100 percent. Which is incredible when you think of it, you’re shooting bullets out of the air.”
Experts think this is bullshit.
In March, a team of volunteer scientists at the American Physical Society’s Panel on Public Affairs published a study that looked at how well missile defense could work. The report makes it clear that, no matter what the specifics, Trump’s plan for a Golden Dome is a fantasy.
The study was written by a “study group” of ten scientists and included Frederick K Lamb, an astrophysics expert at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; William Priedhorsky, a fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory; and Cynthia Nitta, a program director at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
404 Media reached out to the scientists with questions about why it’s hard to shoot nukes out of the sky and why Reagan’s dream of putting lasers in space doesn’t seem to die. Below is a copy of our correspondence, which was written collectively by 8 of the scientists. It’s been edited for length and clarity.
404 Media: What were the questions the team set out to answer when it started this work?
In recent years, the U.S. program to develop defenses against long-range ballistic missiles has focused on systems that would defend the continental United States against relatively unsophisticated intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would use only a few relatively simple countermeasures and penetration aids. North Korea’s ICBMs and ICBMs that might be deployed by Iran are thought to be of this kind.
Previous reports were cautious or even pessimistic about the technical feasibility of defending against even these relatively unsophisticated ICBMs. The current study sought to determine whether the technological developments that have occurred during the past decade have changed the situation.
💡
Do you know anything else about nukes or missile defense? I would love to hear from you. Using a non-work device, you can message me securely on Signal at +1 347 762-9212 or send me an email at matthew@404media.co.
What factor does the size of the United States play in building this kind of system?
There are three phases in the flight of an ICBM and its warhead: the boost phase, during which the ICBM is in powered flight, which lasts three to five minutes; the midcourse phase, which begins when the ICBM releases its warhead, which then travels on a ballistic trajectory in space toward its target for about 20 to 30 minutes; and the terminal phase, which begins when the warhead re-enters Earth’s atmosphere and lasts until the warhead strikes its target, which takes about 30 seconds.
The large geographical size of the United States is not especially important for defensive systems designed to intercept a missile or its warhead during the boost or midcourse phases, but it is a crucial factor for defensive systems designed to intercept the warhead during the terminal phase. The reason is that the geographical area that a terminal phase interceptor can defend, even if it works perfectly, is very limited.
Israel’s Iron Dome interceptors can only partially defend small areas against slow, homemade rockets, but this can be useful if the area to be defended is very small, as Israel is. But the lower 48 of the United States alone have an area 375 times the area of Israel.
The interceptors of the Patriot, Aegis, and THAAD systems are much more capable than those of the Iron Dome, but even if they were used, a very large number would be needed to attempt to defend all important potential targets in the United States. This makes defending even this portion of the United States using terminal interceptors impractical.
Why did you decide to narrowly focus on North Korean nukes?
We chose to focus on the threat posed by these ICBMs for several reasons. First, the United States has deployed a system that could only defend against a limited attack by long-range ballistic missiles, which was understood to mean an attack using the smaller number of less sophisticated missiles that a country such as North Korea has, or that Iran might develop and deploy. Developing and deploying a system that might be able to defend against the numerically larger and more sophisticated ICBMs that Russia and China have would be even more challenging.
A key purpose of this report was to explain why a defense against even the limited ICBM threat we considered is so technically challenging, and where the many technical difficulties lie. Our hope was that readers will come away with realistic views of the current capabilities of U.S. system intended to defend against the nuclear-armed ICBMs North Korea may have at present and an improved understanding of the prospects for being able to defend against the ICBMs North Korea might deploy within the next 15 years. In our assessment, the capability of the current U.S. system is low and will likely remain low for the next 15 years.
Why do you think the “dream” of this kind of system has such a strong hold on American leaders?
Ever since nuclear-armed intercontinental-range missiles were deployed in the 1950s, the United States (and its potential adversaries) have been vulnerable to nuclear attack. This is very unnerving, and has caused our leaders to search for some kind of technical fix that would change this situation by making it possible for us to defend ourselves against such an attack. Fixing this situation is also very appealing to the public. As a consequence, new systems for defending against ICBMs have been proposed again and again, and about half a dozen have been built, costing large amounts of money, in the hope that a technical fix could be found that would make us safe. But none of these efforts have been successful, because the difficulty of defending against nuclear-armed ICBMs is so great.
A constellation of about 16,000 interceptors would be needed to counter a rapid salvo of ten solid-propellant ICBMs like North Korea’s Hwasong-18, if they are launched automatically as soon as possible.
What are the issues with shooting down a missile midcourse?
The currently deployed midcourse defense system, the Ground-based Midcourse Defense, consists of ground-based interceptors. Most of them are based in Alaska but a few are in California. They would be fired when space-based infrared detectors and ground-based radars confirm that a hostile ICBM has been launched, using tracking information provided by these sensors. Once it is in space, each interceptor releases a single kill vehicle, which is designed to steer itself to collide with a target which it destroys by striking it. The relatively long, 20 to 30 minute duration of the midcourse phase can potentially provide enough time that more than one intercept attempt may be possible if the first attempt fails.
However, attempting to intercept the warhead during the midcourse phase also has a disadvantage. During this phase the warhead moves in the near-vacuum of space, which provides the attacker with opportunities to confuse or overwhelm the defense. In the absence of air drag, relatively simple, lightweight decoys would follow the same trajectory as the warhead, and the warhead itself might be enclosed within a decoy balloon.
Countermeasures such as these can make it difficult for the defense to pick out the warhead from among the many other objects that may accompany it. If the defense must engage all objects that could be warheads, its inventory of interceptors will be
depleted. Furthermore, the radar and infrared sensors that are required to track, pick out, and home on the warhead are vulnerable to direct attack as well as to high-altitude nuclear detonations. The latter may be preplanned, or caused by “successful” intercept of a previous nuclear warhead.
What about shooting the missile during the boost phase, before it’s in space?
Disabling or destroying a missile’s warhead during the missile’s boost phase would be very, very challenging, so boost-phase intercept systems generally do not attempt this.
Meeting this challenge requires a system with interceptors that can reach the ICBM within about two to four minutes after it has been launched. To do this, the system must have remote sensors that can quickly detect the launch of any threatening ICBM, estimate its trajectory, compute a firing solution for the system’s interceptor, and fire its interceptor, all within a minute or less after the launch of the attacking ICBM has been confirmed.
For a land-, sea-, or air-based interceptor to intercept an ICBM during its boost phase, the interceptor must typically be based within about 500 km of the expected intercept point, have a speed of 5 km/s or more, and be fired less than a minute after the launch of a potentially threatening missile has been detected. To be secure, interceptors must be positioned at least 100 to 200 km from the borders of potentially hostile countries
If instead interceptors were placed in low-Earth orbits, a large number would be needed to make sure that at least one is close enough to reach any attacking ICBM during its boost phase so it could attempt an intercept. The number that would be required is large because each interceptor would circle Earth at high speed while Earth is rotating beneath its orbit. Hence most satellites would not be in position to reach an attacking ICBM in time.
A constellation of about 16,000 interceptors would be needed to counter a rapid salvo of ten solid-propellant ICBMs like North Korea’s Hwasong-18, if they are launched automatically as soon as possible. If the system is designed to use 30 seconds to verify that it is performing correctly and that the reported launch was indeed an ICBM, determine the type of ICBM, and gather more tracking information before firing an interceptor, about 36,000 interceptors would be required.
With this kind of thing, you’re running out the clock, right? By the time you’ve constructed a system your enemies would have advanced their own capabilities.
Yes. Unlike civilian research and development programs, which typically address fixed challenges, a missile defense program confronts intelligent and adaptable human adversaries who can devise approaches to disable, penetrate, or circumvent the defensive system. This can result in a costly arms race. Which side holds the advantage at any particular moment depends on the relative costs of the defensive system and the offensive system adaptations required to evade it, and the resources each side is prepared to devote to the competition.
As the BMD Report says, the open-ended nature of the current U.S. missile defense program has stimulated anxiety in both Moscow and Beijing. President Putin has announced a variety of new nuclear-weapon delivery systems designed to counter U.S. missile defenses. As for China, the U.S. Department of Defense says that China’s People’s Liberation Army justifies developing a range of offensive technologies as necessary to counter U.S. and other countries’ ballistic missile defense systems.
Matthew Gault is a writer covering weird tech, nuclear war, and video games. He’s worked for Reuters, Motherboard, and the New York Times.
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The B61-13 is the latest variant of the Cold War-era B61 gravity bomb, featuring a higher maximum yield than its predecessor, the B61-12. Proposed in …
New intelligence obtained by the United States suggests that Israel is making preparations to strike Iranian nuclear … Israel and Hamas at War · Japan …
(See Newsweek article below for image description and photo credits. ~llaw)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion: THIS IS AN ALERT, and we need straightforward honest answers from Trump, the Trump administration and the U.S. military . . .
Has the USA’s president, Donald Trump, been intentionally interfering with the confusing and sporadically halting talks regarding Iran’s patient intent to continue on with the original planned talks? It seems so, especially when the U.S. military has been and is sending more and more military equipment, including aircraft carriers, jets, and troops to the Middle East appearing to be preparing for war?
Iran, apparently — by the multiplying ramping-up of their own military defenses and their possible rightful failure to trust Trump’s confusing motivations that have constantly interfered with the once agreed upon talks,— seems to be preparing for the worst. That would be war.
This is a truly frightening situation, and when you consider that Iran and both Israel and the citizenry of the United States, not to mention Yemen, have been most likely lied to by Trump throughout this entire disturbing period of doubts on all sides.
I believe, from carefully following this odd and confusing period, that the leadership of Iran has entirely given up on the idea of reaching common ground on the hoped-for agreement, and that at this juncture they are doing more planning for war rather than thinking about agreements, perhaps intentionally calling Trump’s bluff unless it is not a bluff. According to the article below, Iran has announced that they have at least one ballistic missile that can reach the USA mainland, never mind the kind of warhead it might carry . . . ~llaw
Iran Ramps Up Defenses as Risks of U.S. Attack Grow
Published May 20, 2025 at 10:20 AM EDT
00:31
Iran Unveils Underground Drone Facility
By Amira El-Fekki
Middle East Reporter
The Iranian’s army chief of staff said the country’s air defense capabilities have significantly increased, in preparedness for any violation of its airspace.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) for comment.
Why It Matters
Military posturing has continued in parallel with diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program, with U.S. President Donald Trump threatening military action if talks fail. The United States and Iran remain at odds over uranium enrichment, making the discussions increasingly fraught and increasing the risk of failure.
A missile system is carried on a truck during a parade commemorating National Army Day in front of the shrine of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 18, 2025…. More Vahid Salemi/AP Photo
What To Know
Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major-General Mohammad Baqeri, told an air defense meeting that the country has seen a fivefold increase over the last year in the number of radars, monitoring systems, and detection equipment it has, according to semi-official Tasnim News Agency.
The U.S. Air Force, which has been bolstering military equipment in the remote Diego Garcia airbase with strategic bombers, has meanwhile deployed additional F-15 fighter jets to the Indian Ocean island, bringing the total to six, The War Zone reported, citing a U.S. defense official. Diego Garcia would be within bombing range of Iran.
As the U.S. is pressing Iran to abandon enrichment, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and senior officials have strongly opposed the demand. “For the Americans to say, ‘We won’t allow Iran to enrich uranium,’ is utter nonsense,” Khamenei posted to his X account, casting doubt on the outcome of ongoing talks.
Baqeri said Iran’s interception and destruction capabilities for aerial threats had increased by as much as three times, adding that Iran’s airspace is under constant surveillance. Tehran has also recently unveiled a new ballistic missile capable of striking U.S. targets.
Iran says that its enrichment of uranium is for a civilian nuclear program, with monitoring from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) but the watchdog, the United States and Israel are concerned that enrichment levels and activities could enable it to make nuclear weapons.
Commander Matthew Comer, Indo-Pacific Command spokesperson, told The War Zone this week: “The F-15s are deployed providing force protection.”
Chief of Staff of the Iranian army Major-General Mohammad Baqeri, as quoted by IRNA News Agency last week: “In case the enemies make a mistake or intend to take action against the establishment and the sacred waters and soil of the Islamic Republic of Iran, our armed forces have the ability and readiness to confront them.”
What Happens Next
Nuclear talks are expected to continue, but the risk of an impasse increases the chances of military action.
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Telecom Failure Cuts Off Spanish Emergency Services … Hungarian PM’s political adviser berates Berlin for putting pressure on the EU, only to reverse …
Iran’s and U.S.’ flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
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In My Opinion:
The original Iran/USA nuclear agreement was finalized on July 14, 2015, during the Obama administration and was approved by not only the USA, but also with the approval of China, France, Russia, the U.K., and the U.S. – plus Germany) together with the European Union. Trump withdrew and cancelled the agreement in May of 2018 during his 1st term claiming the agreement was too “one-sided” while also imposing new sanctions on Iran. I guess Trump thought he was smarter than the rest of the world and only he knew best. He was dead wrong, and his mistake has come back to haunt him.
Yes, this has proven to be a serous error made by Trump because Iran has increased their enrichment limits that Obama had set. So now Trump is caught, embarrassingly so, as usual, between a rock and a hard place because the old Obama agreement was reasonable and prevented Iran from increasing their nuclear fuel enrichment program above the level that would only allow them to operate their nuclear power plant(s). So Trump, in order to save face, is now demanding — after previously informing his own negotiators that they could continue enrichment to the nuclear power limits set by Obama, but since then Trump has vacillated between some and none, changing his mind, from one week to the next, so that Iran has no idea what Trump’s demands even are. And that makes preparing for an agreement virtually impossible.
I have followed this story from the beginning until now, and in the meantime Trump has lied and misled the U.S. citizenry and even his own cabinet and administration about restricting Iran’s nuclear fuel from being enriched at all, and that Iran is not to possess their own uranium fuel, which Iran says will kill any deal that Trump suggests. Of course Iran would never agree to be forced to shut down their existing nuclear power plants. Go figure! ~llaw
Iran says nuclear talks will fail if US pushes for zero enrichment
By Reuters
May 19, 20252:34 AM PDTUpdated 6 hours ago
Iran’s and U.S.’ flags are seen printed on paper in this illustration taken January 27, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
DUBAI, May 19 (Reuters) – Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States “will lead nowhere” if Washington insists that Tehran drop its uranium enrichment activity to zero, Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takhtravanchi was quoted by state media on Monday as saying.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff reiterated Washington’s stance on Sunday that any new deal between the U.S. and Iran must include an agreement to refrain from enrichment, a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear energy programme has entirely peaceful purposes.
“Our position on enrichment is clear and we have repeatedly stated that it is a national achievement from which we will not back down,” Takhtravanchi said.
During his visit to the Gulf region last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said a deal was very close but that Iran needed to move quickly to resolve the decades-long dispute.
Washington is complicating negotiations by expressing views in public different from what is discussed privately during talks, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.
“Despite hearing contradictory statements from the Americans, we are still participating in negotiations,” Esmail Baghaei added.
A fifth round of talks is expected to take place in Rome this weekend pending confirmation, an Iranian official told Reuters.
During his first, 2017-21 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s enrichment activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
Trump, who branded the 2015 accord one-sided in Iran’s favour, also reimposed sweeping U.S. sanctions on Iran. The Islamic Republic responded by escalating enrichment.Subscribed
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… things up — often anonymously. … In 1993, President Bill Clinton announced plans for a treaty in which all nations would forgo all nuclear blasts, as …
Energy News Bulletin’s new report examines what the energy and resources industry thinks of the idea of a nuclear–powered Australia. editions. ENB CCS …
Artistic image of America’s “Golden Dome” nuclear missile defense program ~ llaw
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Trump calls for all hostages to be released in move toward peace: ‘Positive things are happening’ … WATCH: Trump reveals details on potential nuclear …
… Emergency Preparedness Offsite Coordinator from the Cooper Nuclear Station. … The Nebraska Public Power District, which owns the Cooper Nuclear Plant …
“We are negotiating, and we will negotiate , we are not after war but we do not fear any threat,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a speech to …
In May, 2025, the World Health Assembly (WHA) will vote on re-establishing a mandate for WHO to address the health consequences of nuclear weapons and …
(See context and description including photo credits in the Newsweek article below ~llaw)
LLAW’s NUCLEAR WORLD NEWS TODAY and the GLOBAL RISKS & CONSEQUENCES TOMORROW
In My Opinion:
Barring any last day or minute of changes or adjustments Trump seems to think the USA/Iran nuclear agreement is complete. (See video at the beginning of this Newsweek/AP article.) At this point we can only wait and see.
However, Iran has said in this article, for the first time so far as I know, that the U.S. is not capable of destroying their nuclear facilities despite Trump’s threats to do so. That statement makes me a bit nervous because Trump might choose to take offense and attempt to prove Iran wrong about their understanding of a nuclear agreement based partially on the USA’s lack of military mite. So stay tuned.
Listening to Trump in this video, it does not seem that both sides have actually agreed, by handshake or otherwise, that the “deal” is done . . . ~llaw
Iran Issues Fiery Response to Donald Trump’s Military Threats
Published May 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM EDTUpdated May 15, 2025 at 5:57 PM EDT
Iran issued a sharp response Thursday to U.S. President Donald Trump‘s suggestion that Tehran could suffer significant military consequences if a nuclear deal isn’t reached soon.
Why It Matters
Washington and Tehran have engaged in multiple rounds of talks as part of the United States’ effort to get Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions. Iran has insisted that its stockpiling of enriched uranium is strictly for peaceful purposes, but the U.S., European nations and Israel have voiced significant concerns over Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
The issue took center stage this week, as Trump visits Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in his first major foreign trip since taking office in January. The president has repeatedly appealed to the leaders of all three nations to help facilitate a U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement.
What To Know
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Thursday that the U.S. has not engaged in military action and is choosing diplomacy because Iran’s military is serving as a deterrent.
“If the other side—whether during the earlier talks with the P5+1 or now with the United States—were able to destroy our nuclear facilities through military means, they would have done so,” Araghchi said. “They came to the table because they cannot impose their will by force.” White House special envoy Steve Witkoff is leading the talks from the U.S. side.
The foreign minister’s remarks come as Trump says the U.S. is “very close” to reaching a nuclear deal with Iran after Tehran “sort of” agreed to the Trump administration’s terms.
Hours after Trump’s comments, Araghchi said the ability to enrich uranium is a core right for Iran and one that it will not give up.
“We have said repeatedly that defending Iran’s nuclear rights—including enrichment—is a fundamental principle,” Araghchi said, according to the Associated Press. “This is not something we concede, either in public discourse or in negotiations. It is a right that belongs to the Iranian people, and no one can take it away.”
L: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on February 25, 2025. R: White House special envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington, D.C., on March 19, 2025. Associated Press
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, another top Iranian official offered one of the clearest signs yet that Iran is willing to negotiate a tenable nuclear agreement with the U.S. in which Tehran would give up its nuclear goals.
Ali Shamkhani, a senior political and military adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told NBC News that Tehran will commit to never making nuclear weapons, getting rid of its stockpiles of enriched uranium which can be weaponized, agree to enrich uranium only to the lower levels needed for civilian use and allow international inspectors to supervise the process.
Shamkhani said Iran wants all economic sanctions lifted in return. When NBC asked him if Iran would sign an agreement with those terms today, Shamkhani replied, “Yes.”
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump said in Doha, Qatar, on Thursday: “Iran has sort of agreed to the terms: They’re not going to make, I call it, in a friendly way, nuclear dust. We’re not going to be making any nuclear dust in Iran.”
What Happens Next
Trump has insisted throughout the talks that the U.S. will not sign an agreement with Iran unless it includes Tehran giving up its nuclear ambitions.
“They can’t have nuclear weapons. That’s the only thing,” he said this week. “It’s very simple. It’s not like I have to give you 30 pages worth of details. It is only one sentence. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.”
But he suggested Wednesday that he’s also looking for Tehran to make other concessions as part of a deal.
Iran “must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease pursuit of nuclear weapons,” Trump said in Saudi Arabia. “They cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.
Update 5/15/25, 5:57 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.Subscribed
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A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.
