Congress Moving to Put More Sanctions on Iran

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May 17, 2011

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Today's top nuclear policy stories, with excerpts in bullet form.

Stories we're following today: Tuesday, May 17, 2011.

House Goes First with New Iran Sanctions Bill - Josh Rogin in "The Cable" [link]

  • Both the House and Senate are preparing new legislation to increase pressure on Iran, but the House fired the opening salvo on Monday with a new bill authored by both heads of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
  • The Senate bill will likely focus on expanding sanctions rather than tightening enforcement of existing sanctions, as the House has done.
  • Original co-sponsors [in addition to Chairwoma Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL)] are committee ranking Democrat Howard Berman (D-CA), Dan Burton (R-IN), Edward R. Royce (R-CA), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Steve Chabot (R-OH), Gary Ackerman (D-NY), and Ted Deutch (D-FL).
  • The Senate effort is being led by Sens. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Mark Kirk (R-IL), but will likely incorporate ideas from others, such as Robert Casey (D-PA) and Kirstin Gillibrand (D-NY).

Pakistan Doubling Rate of Making Nuclear Weapons: Time for Pakistan to Reverse Course - David Albright and Paul Brannan of ISIS [link]

 

  • Pakistan’s construction of new reactors at the Khushab site...will be able to produce enough plutonium for over 12 nuclear weapons per year.
  • Pakistan’s great increase in production of plutonium is by itself an inherent nuclear material security risk.
  • The Obama administration should publicly insist that Pakistan halt construction of these new reactors at Khushab. Congress should condition a fraction of U.S. aid on Pakistan announcing a moratorium on further construction and agreeing to a FMCT.

NATO Missile Shield Needs to Include Russia, Medvedev Says - Global Security Newswire [link]

  • Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Saturday said a planned European missile shield would be destabilizing and not viable if his nation does not participate in the system.
  • "A European missile defense system can only be genuinely effective and viable if Russia participates in an equal way," Medvedev was quoted by the Kremlin to have written.
  • The Russian president said it was crucial that any antimissile systems established on the continent not "disrupt strategic stability and will not be directed against either of the sides."

Corralling Iran - Matt Duss of The Center for American Progress [link]

 

  • In a just-released report, a special panel of United Nations experts declared that the multilateral sanctions adopted under a U.N. Security Council Resolution in June 2010 are having a significant impact on Iran’s ability to proceed with its nuclear program.
  • It’s imperative that the Obama administration maintain a strong international consensus in favor of those sanctions, and continues to work in multilateral venues to maintain and tighten their enforcement.
  • It’s also why the president’s critics—having been proved wrong on the value of engaging Iran—need to ease up on more aggressive measures that threaten to alienate our allies and break the strong multilateral resolve that Obama has so painstakingly forged.

U.S. Says Decision Soon on Sending Envoy to North Korea - Jeremy Laurence in Reuters [link]

  • Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special representative for North Korea policy, met South Korean officials to discuss resumption of both food aid to the North and international nuclear talks.
  • Asked about a possible visit to Pyongyang by Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for human rights, Bosworth told reporters a decision would be announced from Washington within days.

Japanese Officials Ignored or Concealed Dangers - Normitsu Onishi and Martin Fackler in The New York Times [link]

  • The nuclear power plant, lawyers argued, could not withstand the kind of major earthquake that new seismic research now suggested was likely.
  • The lawsuits reveal a disturbing pattern in which operators underestimated or hid seismic dangers to avoid costly upgrades and keep operating. And the fact that virtually all these suits were unsuccessful reinforces the widespread belief in Japan that a culture of collusion supporting nuclear power, including the government, nuclear regulators and plant operators, extends to the courts as well.
  • Tweets @cirincione: "This is one of the most impressive--and depressing--stories you will read all year."