Iran has started work on uranium metal-based fuel for a research reactor, the U.N. nuclear watchdog and Tehran said on Wednesday, in the latest breach of its nuclear deal with six major powers as the country presses for a lifting of U.S. sanctions. Iran has been accelerating its breaches of …
Read More »State Department okays $290m arms sale to Saudi
The US state department has approved the sale of $290m in bombs to Saudi Arabia as part of a flurry of arms deals with Middle Eastern dictatorships in the last weeks of the Trump administration. Critics of the sales say they are being rushed through despite broad congressional and public …
Read More »UK, Germany, France wants Iran sanctions relief to persist
Britain, France and Germany told the U.N. Security Council on Friday that U.N. sanctions relief for Iran – agreed under a 2015 nuclear deal – would continue beyond Sept. 20, when the United States asserts that all the measures should be reimposed. In a letter to the 15-member body, seen …
Read More »Maduro to make Columbia market for Iranian missile tech
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday said it would be a “good idea” to look into buying missiles from Iran, a day after Colombia said Venezuela was considering such a plan amid growing ties between Caracas and Tehran. Iran in May supplied gasoline to Venezuela to ease chronic shortages, triggering …
Read More »Pompeo to talk Iran, China with UAE, Israel next week – UPDATE
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Israel on Monday and the United Arab Emirates a day later to discuss the countries’ normalisation deal, two sources briefed on his itinerary said. Also on Pompeo’s agenda will be the security challenges posed by Iran and China in the region, said …
Read More »Ali Khamenei says no to ballistic negotiations with US
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ruled out negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s ballistic missile and nuclear programmes on Friday and urged Iranians to resist U.S. pressure. “America’s brutal sanctions on Iran are aimed at collapsing our economy … Their aim is to limit our influence in the …
Read More »Trump Greets Plans for North Korea-Syria Meeting With Deafening Silence
When Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, met with top Chinese and Russian officials before a planned summit meeting with President Trump, the American leader raised a red flag. But North Korea’s announcement that Mr. Kim is also planning to meet President Bashar al-Assad of Syria has brought no similar …
Read More »Syria’s Assad says will visit North Korea, news agency reports
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said he plans to visit North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, North Korean state media reported on Sunday, potentially the first meeting between Kim and another head of state in Pyongyang. “I am going to visit the DPRK and meet HE Kim Jong Un,” Assad said …
Read More »North Korea threatens to cancel Trump-Kim summit over drills
A U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane prepares to land as South Korea and the United States conduct the Max Thunder joint military exercise at the Osan U.S. Air Base in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, Wednesday, May 16, 2018. North Korea on Wednesday canceled a high-level meeting with South Korea and …
Read More »Trump pulls US from Iran nuclear deal, to revive sanctions
President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the US withdrawal from what he called the “defective” multinational nuclear deal with Iran, and said Washington would reinstate sanctions against the Islamic republic. “The Iran deal is defective at its core,” Trump said in a televised address from the White House. “I am …
Read More »Muzzled watchdog: How killing the nuclear deal could make it easier for Iran to pursue the bomb in secret
In the three years since the start of the Iran nuclear agreement, a cluster of buildings near the Austrian capital has served as an unblinking eye over Tehran’s most sensitive factories and research labs. But perhaps not for much longer. Every day, workers arrive at the U.N. nuclear agency here …
Read More »Koreas plan Olympic first with joint women’s hockey team. But many in the South are not happy.
Many South Koreans are up in arms over a plan to field a single Korean women’s hockey team at next month’s Winter Olympics, viewing it as a step too far in the government’s attempt to bring about a thaw in relations between the two Koreas. The plan to combine the …
Read More »North Korea brands Trump’s US security report ‘criminal’
North Korea has branded a US security document citing the possible use of “overwhelming force” against Pyongyang as “criminal”, state media report. Its foreign ministry accused President Donald Trump of seeking “the total subordination of the world” with his new US national security strategy. Mr Trump said on Monday that …
Read More »Tillerson says U.S. ready to talk to North Korea; Japan wants pressure
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions, backing away from a key U.S. demand that Pyongyang must first accept that giving up its nuclear arsenal would be part of any negotiations. Tillerson’s new diplomatic overture comes nearly two weeks after North …
Read More »Why North Korea’s nuclear test is still producing aftershocks
North Korea’s nuclear test in September didn’t just generate diplomatic shockwaves but also a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Aftershocks have continued ever since, and on Saturday the US Geological Survey said it had detected two more, sparking significant debate about what might be going on underground. What happened during the nuclear …
Read More »Hawaii to resume Cold War-era nuclear siren tests amid North Korea threat
Hawaii this week will resume monthly statewide testing of its Cold War-era nuclear attack warning sirens for the first time in about 30 years, in preparation for a potential missile launch from North Korea, emergency management officials said on Monday. FILE PHOTO: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un provides guidance …
Read More »South Korea’s New ‘Frankenmissile’ Would Take Out North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and His Nuclear Weapons
Just in time for Halloween, South Korea’s army said it’s looking to build a new monster missile capable of wiping out major North Korean political and military installations in the event of an all-out war between the belligerent neighbors. South Korea first announced the idea after President Donald Trump pledged last …
Read More »Iran tests new ballistic missile hours after showing it off at military parade
Iran tested a new ballistic missile that is reportedly capable of carrying multiple warheads, the nation’s state-run broadcaster announced Saturday. Iran unveiled the ballistic missile Friday at a military parade in Tehran and successfully tested it the same day, Press TV reported. It said Iran released footage of the test-launch. …
Read More »Defying Trump, Iran says will boost missile capabilities
Iran will strengthen its missile capabilities and will not seek permission from any country to do so, President Hassan Rouhani said on Friday in an undisguised snub to demands by U.S. President Donald Trump. Tasnim news agency reported that Iran had announced a new ballistic missile with range of 2,000 …
Read More »Defense Giant Northrop to Buy Orbital ATK for $7.8 Billion
Northrop Grumman Corp. agreed to buy Orbital ATK Inc. for $7.8 billion, bolstering the missile and space businesses of one of the U.S.’s largest defense contractors. Orbital holders will receive $134.50 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement Monday. The price is 22 percent above the stock’s closing level Friday. Northrop …
Read More »U.S. asks if Iran military sites to be checked under nuclear deal
The United States wants to know if the United Nations atomic watchdog plans to inspect Iranian military sites to verify Tehran’s compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said on Tuesday. Haley will meet with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials in …
Read More »U.S. slaps sanctions on Iran firms after satellite launch
The United States imposed sanctions on Friday on six subsidiaries of a company key to Iran’s ballistic missile programme, citing continued “provocative actions” like Tehran’s launch of a rocket capable of putting a satellite into orbit. Iranian state television reported on Thursday that Iran had successfully tested a rocket that …
Read More »Iran announces new missile production line: state media
Iran announced the launch of a new missile production line on Saturday, according to state media, against a backdrop of tension between the United States and Tehran. The Sayyad 3 missile can reach an altitude of 27 km (16 miles) and travel up to 120 km (74 miles), Iranian defense …
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