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“I also want to thank Daryl Kimball and the Arms Control Association for allowing me to address all of you today and for being such effective advocates for sensible policies to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and most importantly, reduce the risk of nuclear war.”

– Joseph Biden, Jr.

Senator

January 28, 2004

Arms Control NOW

U.S. Continues Stalling on New START

Authored by Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos on June 26, 2020

U.S. Continues Stalling on New START The United States and Russia concluded the latest round of their strategic security dialogue June 22 without agreeing to extend the 2010 New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( New START ), the last remaining arms control agreement limiting their nuclear arsenals. The United States is “leaving all options available” on the future of the treaty, said Special Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea, who led the U.S. delegation at the talks in Vienna, during a June 24 briefing in Brussels. “We are willing to contemplate an extension of that agreement but...

Iran’s Illicit Arms Transfers Do Not Justify U.S. Snapback

Authored by Julia Masterson on June 26, 2020

A new report authored by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres details evidence of Iran’s likely violation of the arms-related and ballistic missile transfer-related provisions of Security Council resolution 2231 (2015). Resolution 2231 endorses and helps implement the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, formally called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the United States withdrew from in May 2018, and modifies UN sanctions on Iran. As the Trump Administration bids to strengthen its maximum pressure campaign against Iran, it will likely use the Secretary-General’s report as...

Forward, Not Back

Authored by Daryl Kimball, Kathy Crandall Robinson, and Tony Fleming on June 23, 2020

Our nation and the world face a daunting array of challenges: a global pandemic; deepening economic hardship and inequity; a lack of cooperation and growing tensions between the world’s major powers; and ongoing deaths of Black Americans at the hands of police that underscore the systemic racism that continues to plague our society. Surely, this is not the time to continue to abandon effective nuclear arms control agreements, like the Open Skies Treaty, and ignite a new arms race with Russia and China—let alone to begin testing nuclear weapons again. Yet that is what senior officials at the...

IAEA Board Passes Resolution on Iran | P4+1 and Iran Nuclear Deal Alert

Authored by Kelsey Davenport and Julia Masterson on June 19, 2020

IAEA Board Passes Resolution on Iran The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors passed a resolution calling on Tehran to fully cooperate with the agency’s investigation into possible undeclared nuclear materials and activities from the pre-2003 period. The resolution , drafted by the three European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal (France, Germany, and the United Kingdom), passed June 19 by a vote of 25-2 , with 7 abstentions and one country not voting. The United States supported the resolution, whereas China and Russia, also party to the nuclear deal with Iran, voted...

North Korea announces plans to boost nuclear deterrent

Authored by Julia Masterson on June 10, 2020

North Korea Announces Plans to Boost Nuclear Deterrent North Korean leader Kim Jong Un presided over a May 24 meeting of the Seventh Central Military Committee of the Worker’s Party of Korea, who discussed national efforts to bolster the country’s armed forces, including “new policies for further increasing the nuclear war deterrence of the country and putting the strategic armed forces on high alert.” According to a statement released that day by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), officials worked to refine a strategy to “reliably contain the persistent big or small military...

Iran’s Failure to Comply with IAEA Investigation Raises Concerns

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on June 8, 2020

In a June 5 report on Iran’s safeguards agreement, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) provided additional detail about the agency's investigation into possible undeclared nuclear materials and activities tied to Iran's past nuclear weapons development efforts and noted that Tehran has yet to comply with the agency’s requests for information and access. Given the information provided in the report, it appears likely that Iran violated its safeguards obligations by storing nuclear materials from its pre-2003 illict weaponization work at locations that were not declared to the IAEA...

IAEA Report Shows Iran’s Stockpile of Uranium Grows

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on June 8, 2020

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) June 5 report assessing Iran’s compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal noted that Tehran’s stockpile of low enriched uranium continues to increase beyond limits set by the accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). While the stockpile growth is concerning, the IAEA report states that Iran continues to comply with the JCPOA’s monitoring and verification measures, which provide assurance that if Tehran were to take further steps to violate the deal or dash toward a bomb, its activities would be quickly detected. In short, Iran...

Tear Gas is Banned in War. It is Time to Ban its Domestic Use.

Authored by Kelsey Davenport on June 5, 2020

Images and videos from across the country are capturing the horrific results of police decisions to use toxic chemicals against protestors demanding justice for the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis and systemic changes to address racism in the United States. In one high-profile incident on June 1, federal law enforcement used tear gas , along with other measures, to drive back peaceful protestors so President Donald Trump could pose for a photo in front of a church. While international law permits the use of tear gas by law enforcement, it is undeniably immoral to...

Trump Administration Debates Resuming Nuclear Testing

Authored by Shannon Bugos on June 4, 2020

The Trump administration reportedly weighed whether to conduct a nuclear test explosion during a May 15 meeting with national security agencies. The United States has not conducted a nuclear test since 1992, and no other nuclear-armed country besides North Korea has conducted such a test since 1998. If the United States chooses to conduct a nuclear test, it would undoubtedly invite other nuclear-armed countries to do the same and launch a new nuclear arms race. The Washington Post first reported on this meeting on May 22. The administration did not make a final decision, with a senior...

U.S. to Withdraw from Open Skies Treaty | U.S.-Russian Nuclear Arms Control Watch, May 27, 2020

Authored by Kingston Reif and Shannon Bugos on May 27, 2020

U.S. to Withdraw from Open Skies Treaty The United States officially gave notice of its intent to withdraw from the 1992 Open Skies Treaty in May, prompting bipartisan opposition in Congress and expressions of regret from U.S. allies. President Trump justified the withdrawal decision on the grounds that Russia was violating the agreement, but he said , “There’s a very good chance we’ll make a new agreement or do something to put that agreement back together.” Secretary of State Michael Pompeo said in a May 21 statement that the withdrawal will take effect in six months. “We may, however,...