New Iran Sanctions Package Expected This Week

July 31, 2012 | Edited by Benjamin Loehrke and Leah Fae Cochran

Latest round of sanctions - After weeks of haggling, House and Senate negotiators reached agreement on the latest round of sanctions on Iran. The bill includes provisions to crack down on Iran’s energy, shipping and insurance sectors. It would deny visas and freeze assets of individuals and companies that supply Iran with technology that can be used against its citizens. It also would require companies to disclose any Iran-related business to the SEC. AP has the story. http://nyti.ms/OiFgyp

Sanctions bill - Josh Rogin at Foreign Policy has the latest version of the bill. He reports that the bill could head to the House floor tomorrow and the Senate could take it up and try to pass it Thursday or Friday. http://bit.ly/Qfn60H

B-61 goes for gold - The B61 Life Extension Program is set to break records by producing the most expensive warhead in U.S. history. How expensive? Each B61-12 nuclear warhead, however, will cost 1.5 times its weight in solid gold. New infographic at the Ploughshares Fund Blog.

--The bombs will weigh ~700 lbs. each, which in solid gold would be worth a meager $18.1 million at today’s staggering gold prices. The Life Extension Program for the B61 will have a unit cost of $28 million per warhead. http://bit.ly/PiKUfQ

At-home verification - Last week, a reader at Arms Control Wonk spotted data from an unusual seismic event at the Nevada Test Site that looked a like a small explosion. So Jeffrey Lewis, with help from Nick Roth and others, used open source data to verify that the seismic event was a blast, estimate the epicenter, and determine that the blast was a conventional explosion.

--NNSA explained the event in a press release right before Lewis’ sleuthing was finished. However, the exercise showed the value of regional seismic networks for CTBT verification or potential seismic confidence building measures with Iran. http://bit.ly/OzrBkp

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Consensus- Military leaders want a nuclear force that reflects current strategic concerns, rather than outdated policy writes Mary Kaszynski of the American Security Project (and Early Warning alumnus). “Maintaining excess nuclear capabilities is not just fiscally irresponsible – it’s bad strategy. Buying more nuclear capabilities that we do not need means buying less of the capabilities that we do need.”

--”There may not be agreement on the size or shape of the future force, but there is a growing consensus that revising the outdated nuclear posture will not only save billions of dollars, but also make for a more effective national security strategy,” she writes. Read the full post at The Hill. http://bit.ly/Q8xyXK

Tweet - @Nickolas_Roth: NNSA planned to ramp up pit production to 30-50 pits by 2012 before CMRR would be built. Page 60. http://bit.ly/M8tthM

Medium-range - Turkey announced that it intends to embark on a medium-range ballistic missile program, a weapon which would have very little strategic value for Turkey’s stated defense policy but could spark proliferation concerns in the region.

--”Its decision to field such a system will certainly raise questions in regional capitals about Turkey’s future military plans. A rocket capable of carrying a satellite into orbit could, with modifications, be capable of carrying a well-designed nuclear warhead. Therefore, Ankara needs to be ready for added scrutiny on its nuclear program -- and cognizant of the repercussions this announcement will have globally.” New article from Aaron Stein at World Politics Review. http://bit.ly/Oyepzt

Tweet - @LPetersonDC: The Inertia of the Nuclear Budget http://bit.ly/MhauYo

Book - Karim Sadjadpour reviews David Crist’s new book The Twilight War for The New York Times, writing “Mr. Crist’s book deserves a spot on the short list of must-read books on United States-Iran relations.” Great opening line: Iran’s 1979 revolution has proven to be “the geopolitical divorce from hell.” http://nyti.ms/MhawiU

Insecurity at Y-12 - The Nukes of Hazard has the details of the protesters who were able to break into the Y-12 nuclear complex in Tennessee, where 400 metric tons of HEU is stored. Concerns about the site’s security had already been raised in a 2006 letter to the Department of Energy by the Project on Government Oversight. Additionally, there are health and safety concerns at the site - where the risk of radiation exposure is highest of the U.S. nuclear complex.

--”Although I am sure some will argue to the contrary, it seems hard to believe that a lack of funds is the problem. If Congress approves its request for fiscal year 2013, Y-12’s budget will have increased by 35% (from $756 million to over $1 billion) over the past two years. It seems that the problems at Y-12 are caused by a misappropriation of priorities, not dollars,” writes Nick Roth. http://bit.ly/NSj1y0