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 by Staff Writers Tehran (AFP) Feb 4, 2018
The United States' new nuclear policy brings humanity "closer to annihilation", Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said. His comments late Saturday came a day after the Pentagon revealed plans to revamp its nuclear arsenal, largely in response to a perceived renewed threat from Russia. Zarif said the new policy was "in violation" of the international Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). "The US Nuclear Posture Review reflects greater reliance on nukes in violation of the #NPT, bringing humankind closer to annihilation," Zarif said on Twitter. Zarif said the same impulse was driving the United States to undermine the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which President Donald Trump has demanded be renegotiated. "Trump's obduracy in killing the #JCPOA stems from the same dangerous imprudence," Zarif wrote, using the technical name for the nuclear deal. The latest Nuclear Posture Review published by the Pentagon called for a larger arsenal of smaller, low-yield nuclear weapons to act as a more "credible" deterrent to threats, particularly from Russia. The NPT, which came into force in 1970 and has been signed by almost all countries including the United States, calls on nations "to achieve at the earliest possible date the cessation of the nuclear arms race and to undertake measures in the direction of nuclear disarmament". President Hassan Rouhani took a similar line in a speech on Sunday, saying it showed US hypocrisy in opposing Iran's missile programme. "You see the kind of insolent language Americans are using with Russia, threatening them with new nuclear weapons," Rouhani said in the televised speech. "How can they then say this is a time of peace, brotherhood and coexistence, and we don't need defensive power? We will always be in need of a defensive power." Iran's nuclear deal, reached with six world powers, lifted some international sanctions in exchange for curbs to its nuclear programme. But Trump has consistently attacked the accord and said in January he would not continue to waive sanctions unless new restrictions were placed on Iran's missile programme and wider actions in the Middle East. The other parties -- Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China -- as well as the European Union have strongly defended the deal, saying it has achieved its aim of limiting Iran's ability to build a nuclear weapon.
Europe must brake mounting nuclear arms race: Germany "As in the times of the Cold War, we in Europe are especially endangered" by "a renewed nuclear arms race", Gabriel said. "That is why precisely we in Europe must begin new initiatives for arms control and disarmament." Gabriel was responding to a so-called Nuclear Posture Review released Friday by the Pentagon that details the US military's vision of nuclear threats and its response in the coming decades. Upgrading the US arsenal and complementing massive "strategic" bombs with smaller "tactical" weapons was "aimed at making use of nuclear weapons less likely", President Donald Trump said in a statement. American nuclear planners believe potential adversaries abroad, especially Russia, assume America would never use its existing arsenal as the effects would be too devastating and provoke globally catastrophic retaliation. "The US and NATO require a wider range of credible low-yield nuclear options" to deter Russia from using its own smaller nuclear weapons, Greg Weaver, the deputy director of strategic capabilities for the military's Joint Staff, told reporters Friday. Gabriel acknowledged that Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine had led to a "dramatic loss of trust towards Russia" in Europe as well as Washington, and that "signs that Russia is re-arming, not only conventionally but with nuclear weapons, are obvious". But instead of developing new weapons, Germany's top diplomat called for "existing arms control treaties to be upheld unconditionally". Berlin would press "with its allies and partners" for further worldwide disarmament, he said. "Our long-term aim must continue to be a world without nuclear weapons," Gabriel continued -- the stated aim of US nuclear policy under former president Barack Obama. Historically a close US ally and key NATO member, nuclear weapons were a divisive issue in Germany's Cold War politics. Berlin does not have its own arsenal, but the Pentagon maintained nuclear warheads in Germany as part of a gigantic military presence designed to deter Soviet invasion of western Europe. The issue has been rediscovered by frontline politicians in the wake of Trump's election. Martin Schulz, a failed challenger to Chancellor Angela Merkel in elections last September, called during the campaign for remaining American bombs to be removed from Germany. The German response to the US nuclear review comes on the heels of condemnations from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran.
Russia casts doubt over evidence of Iran missiles to Yemen United Nations, United States (AFP) Jan 31, 2018 Russia on Wednesday dismissed evidence presented by the United States and UN experts that Iran had supplied missiles to Yemen's Huthi rebels as inconclusive, signaling it would oppose a bid to slap sanctions on Tehran. Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said it was unclear whether missiles and weaponry used by the rebels were sent by Iran or whether they were shipped before the arms embargo on Yemen was imposed in 2015, casting doubt over the findings of a UN panel of experts. "Iran is vehement ... read more
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