As Iran Deadline Nears, Obama Administration Examines Sanctions Options

We are happy to serve you a daily summary of the day's top nuclear policy stories each morning, with excerpts from the stories in bullet form.  Please note that this will be the last serving of Morning Joe for 2009, but we look forward to resuming our posts on Monday, January 4, 2010.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Ploughshares Fund!

Stories we're following today:

Obama Administration Prepares Iran Sanctions Options - Spencer Ackerman in the Washington Independent [link]

• A year’s worth of diplomatic outreach to Iran is on the verge of eclipse, thanks to consistent Iranian refusals to accept President Obama’s offers for a new relationship. As a result, Obama administration officials and their international partners are preparing a package of economic sanctions against Iran for 2010.
• The goal of the new sanctions will be “what is doable” in terms of attracting international support, the U.S. official said, and what “can change Iranian behavior,” particularly over Iran’s nuclear program, which the United States and its allies fear is designed to yield a nuclear weapon.
• According to both U.S. and European diplomats, a move in the Security Council authorizing sanctions — or even merely condemning Iran on its nuclear activities — would clear the way for a coalition of nations to enforce a sanctions package.

Russia, U.S. Plan Unprecedented Nuclear Cut - Reuters [link]

• Russia and the United States plan unprecedented cuts to their Cold War arsenals of nuclear weapons under a new arms reduction deal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
• "The treaty will stipulate a radical and unprecedented reduction in strategic offensive weapons," Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state-owned RIA news agency.
• Lavrov, whose ministry is leading talks along with the U.S. State Department, said negotiations in Geneva would resolve remaining issues after the Christmas and New Year holidays.

South Korea Wants Six-Party Talks 'No Later' Than February - AFP [link]

• Six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear disarmament must resume soon if they are to be revived at all, South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-Hwan was quoted as saying Tuesday.
• "The six-party talks should be resumed in January or before the Lunar New Year holidays (mid-February) or the end of February," Yu told local journalists, according to Yonhap news agency.
• "Otherwise the life of the talks may come to an end."

A View from the Dark Side

Let's START Over - Frank Gaffney Jr. in the Washington Times [link]

• In other words, the senators reject the president's apparent belief that a smaller nuclear arsenal can be maintained indefinitely absent a comprehensive effort to replace existing, obsolescing weapons and the industrial infrastructure required by such new arms.
• The signers concluded their letter with another vitally important shot across the bow: They warned that the administration risked violating the law if it made the grave error of allowing - as the Russians and at least some U.S. negotiators desire - the START follow-on treaty to "limit U.S. missile defenses, space capabilities, or advanced conventional modernization, such as non-nuclear global strike capability."
• The Obama administration must choose: Will it commit to measures to ensure the future viability of America's deterrent or risk defeat of its arms-control agenda at the hands of 41 senators who understand that nothing less is acceptable?