Free Republic

Russia said on Tuesday that four Ukrainian regions whose annexation it proclaimed last month are under the protection of its nuclear arsenal. The statement from the Kremlin came at a moment of acute tension, with both NATO and Russia expected to hold military exercises shortly to test the readiness of their nuclear weapons forces. Asked by reporters if the regions were under Moscow's nuclear umbrella, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "All these territories are inalienable parts of the Russian Federation and they are all protected. Their security is provided for at the same level as [it is for] the rest...

The Biden administration has signaled its intent to weaken or lift sanctions against Iran that it views as “inconsistent” with the failed 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal. Biden’s overhyped campaign rhetoric was critical of the previous administration’s decision to withdraw from the dangerously flawed JCPOA... Despite Congress being united on tough policy sanctions for decades, the Obama-Biden administration went around Congress to enter into the 2015 JCPOA. By doing so, the U.S. allowed new opportunities for Iran to fund terrorist militias in the region and beyond. And far worse, this deal allowed Iran to beat compliance efforts...

President Barack Obama hailed the nuclear deal with Iran on Friday as a “substantial success” and a model for future diplomacy, as world leaders took stock of the world’s most worrisome nuclear threats. Hosting his last nuclear security summit, Obama sought to use the controversial Iran deal as an argument for his carrot-and-stick approach to deterring nuclear proliferation, and he credited Iran with taking steps to meet its commitments. Critics of the deal in the U.S. and abroad are livid about the sanctions relief Iran is receiving in response. “It will take time for Iran to reintegrate in the global...

Earlier this year, authorities found a tape with 12 hours of mysterious footage as the result of an anti-terrorism raid in Brussels. The hours of tape revealed that someone was spying on Belgium’s nuclear power chief, which led authorities to believe that the terrorist cell was likely planning on attacking a nuclear power plant or retrieving nuclear material to build a dirty bomb. It looks like they were right. Belgium is currently on “high alert” after authorities found a nuclear power plant security officer dead with his pass missing. The concerning development, which occurred on Thursday but was only reported...

Tucked into the surveillance bill that became law was a little-noticed section that will let the United States complete ratification of two long-stalled treaties aimed at stopping a frightening scenario: terrorists wielding radioactive bombs. "Today, nearly 2,000 metric tons of weapons-usable nuclear materials remain spread across hundreds of sites around the globe — some of it poorly secured," said former Sen. Sam Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, an organization in Washington that works on the issue. "We know that to get the materials needed to build a bomb, terrorists will not necessarily go where there is the most...

Isreali officials told Channel 10 on Friday that they are convinced the Obama administration has already agreed to most of Iran’s demands in the P5+1 negotiations over the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. According to unnamed officials, Washington “has given the Iranians 80 percent of what they want” out of the negotiations, Channel 10 is reporting.

Iran has conducted “mechanical” tests on a new, advanced machine to refine uranium, a senior official was quoted as saying on Wednesday, a disclosure that may annoy Western states pushing Tehran to scale back its nuclear program. Iran’s development of new centrifuges to replace its current breakdown-prone model is watched closely by Western officials as it could allow the Islamic Republic to amass potential atomic bomb material much faster. …

National Security: The theft of a truck carrying dangerous radioactive material combined with terrorist group activity in the hemisphere shows that the need for a secure border involves more than illegal immigration. Mexican authorities said Wednesday they found the stolen truck and likely recovered all of the radioactive cobalt taken by a group of thieves who were probably after the truck, unaware it carried a deadly cargo. Cobalt-60, which is used in radiation therapy to treat cancer, was being transported from a hospital in the northern city of Tijuana to a radioactive waste storage center. But what if the thieves...

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “in a state of shocked disbelief” at the deal apparently taking shape in Geneva over Iran’s nuclear program, Israeli television news reports said Friday night. Netanyahu, the reports on Israel’s Channel 10 and Channel 2 news said, had “an unprecedented confrontation” with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Tel Aviv on Friday morning over the possible deal, which he publicly described as “a very, very bad deal” and which he implored Kerry “not to rush to sign” and to “reconsider.” The Netanyahu government is “in a crisis of faith” with the Obama administration...

Amid growing fears of a massive electromagnetic pulse hit from either a solar flare or a terrorist nuclear bomb, House Republicans on Tuesday will unveil a plan to save the nation's electric grid from an attack that could mean lights out for 300 million Americans. Dubbed the Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act, the legislation would push the federal government to install grid-saving devices such as surge protectors to protect against an attack. "It is critical that we protect our major transformers from cascading destruction. The Shield Act encourages industry to develop standards necessary to protect our...

President Obama should acknowledge an Iranian fatwa prohibiting nuclear weapons “as one of the bases for nuclear negotiations,” according to a report urging a new push to engage Tehran, endorsed by a group of former senior government officials. Iranian officials periodically cite a purported fatwa (religious ruling) by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons is forbidden under Islam, although the notion is viewed with skepticism by some critics, Muslims among them. The fatwa was supposedly issued in 2005, but since then the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has in a number of...

Yukiya Amano says Iran has failed to clarify its atomic development activities to the satisfaction of the United Nations nuclear watchdog body -- and now it's his job to warn the world about its possible military intentions. Amano, chief of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency, said Thursday in an interview with the German-language Financial Times Deutschland an IAEA delegation will press Iran for "full cooperation" in meetings with officials in Tehran. "What we know suggests the development of nuclear weapons," FTD quoted the IAEA chief as saying "We want to check over everything that could have a military...

Hizbullah could tip its rocket arsenal with Iranian-supplied nuclear warheads, a report said. The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies stated that Iran could supply its proxies with tactical nuclear warheads. In a report, BESA said Iran was likely to use its nuclear arsenal to wage what the report termed "nuclear terrorism against Israel." "Rockets, such as those already in Hizbullah's possession, could be fitted with nuclear warheads." "The potential means of conducting nuclear terrorism against Israel would be similar to those applicable to other countries — sea, air, and land-based — with one important addition: rockets," the report, authored by...

THE risk of an unsecured nuclear weapon falling into the hands of al-Qa'ida or other terrorist organisations posed the greatest threat to global security, US President Barack Obama warned yesterday. Mr Obama said he knew al-Qa'ida was trying to obtain a nuclear weapon and would have no compunction about using one to cause devastation. The President issued his warning before today's start of a two-day summit of 47 countries that he is hosting in Washington. The Nuclear Security Summit, the first of its kind, is meant to focus on ways to secure supplies of plutonium and highly enriched uranium that...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and presidents, prime ministers and other top officials from 47 countries start work Monday on a battle plan to keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands. Confronting what he calls the "single biggest threat to U.S. security," Obama is looking for global help in his goal of ensuring all nuclear materials worldwide are secured from theft or diversion within four years. On the eve of what would be the largest assembly of world leaders hosted by an American president since 1945 — the San Francisco conference to found the United Nations — Obama said nuclear...

The White House on Friday warned that al-Qaida is quietly hunting for an atomic bomb,

The United States on Tuesday announced a new nuclear weapons policy that gives top priority to fighting terrorism and proliferation, rather than deterring or responding to a nuclear attack by a foreign country. The policy promises not to use atomic weapons against non-nuclear states, but issues a stern warning for countries that ignore global non-proliferation rules. Initial reaction among experts and members of Congress has been mixed. The policy document called the Nuclear Posture Review specifically says the United States will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in the nation's security strategy. It lays out a plan to expand conventional...

TORONTO - There are still no leads in the case of an eastern Ontario scientist who disappeared without a trace last month, leaving his colleagues mystified. Lachlan Cranswick hasn't been seen since Jan. 18, when he left work at the National Research Council's Canadian Neutron Beam Centre in Chalk River, northwest of Ottawa. His nearby Deep River house was reportedly left unlocked and his car was in the garage. His wallet, keys and passport have all been accounted for......

New satellite imagery exposed a site where Iran was developing long-range ballistic missiles, the Times of London reported Friday. According to the report, on February 4, Iran announced it had launched a "research rocket" as part of its space program. Experts have estimated since then, however, that the rocket launch was in fact a field test of Shihab-type ballistic missile. But four days after the launch another intriguing feature of the test became apparent: analysis of photographs taken by the Digital Globe QuickBird satellite indicated that the launch site of Kavoshgar 1, as the Shihab missile was dubbed by the...

The hours of congressional testimony, the speeches and the press conferences this week were all, nominally, about Iraq. But another, equally explosive question - what to do about Iran - loomed over the presentations by Army Gen. David Petraeus, the American military commander in Iraq, over U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker and over U.S. strategy for the Middle East. Petraeus and Crocker, arguing that there has been progress in stabilizing Iraq since President Bush ordered a troop build-up there last year, fingered Iran's support for Shiite militias in Iraq, which they called "special groups," as the No. 1 threat...