CND's Press Round-Up - 18th March 2021

Posted: 18th March 2021

Dear all,

Please find today’s press round up below. A continued thanks to those CND Officers who once again have been very helpful in assisting with various media requests and broadcast slots yesterday.

Nuclear Weapons

International Response to Warhead Increase
 
Russia

Responding to the plans set out in the Integrated Review to increase the UK’s number of nuclear warheads, the Russian government has said that ‘this decision will harm international stability and strategic security’. According to the Independent, Russia will take account of the move in its own forthcoming military planning reviews.

Russian press is reporting the move as being against current international trends, following on from the renewal of the New START with the U.S. in January. The Integrated Review also stated that Russia posed ‘most acute direct threat to the UK’. A Kremlin spokesman is quoted as saying that ‘no threat comes from Russia’.
 
Iran

According to Al Jazeera, the Foreign Minister of Iran Javad Zarif has criticised the ‘utter hypocrisy’ of the UK’s decision. Zarif had also tweeted that ‘Unlike the UK and allies, Iran believes nukes and all WMDs are barbaric and must be eradicated’. Boris Johnson had earlier told the House of Commons that the British government ‘remained extremely concerned by Iran’s influence in the region, the disruptive behaviour of Iran and particularly…the risk of Iran developing a viable nuclear weapon’.

In terms of wider policy towards Iran, there has been informed speculation that the intention of the Government is to move away from the position currently shared with France and Germany, that is, to resurrect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) and moving, in lockstep with the U.S.A, to the present Israeli-Saudi Arabian position of making Iranian nuclear policy part of a wider narrative of Iranian regional aggression, which the result being a policy of containment, including military containment.
 
 North Korea

CNN is reporting that U.S. intelligence believes that North Korea could be readying itself to carry out its first nuclear test since the inauguration of Joe Biden. The news comes as senior U.S. Cabinet members are visiting U.S. allies in South Korea and Japan, following the conclusion of joint military exercises.


Nuclear Power

UK Nuclear Fusion
 
A bid by Copeland Borough Council for the UK’s first prototype nuclear fusion facility is set to proceed after winning the unanimous support of the Council’s Executive Committee, according to local press. The call for applications, conducted by UK Atomic Energy Authority, closes at the end of this month.


With best wishes,

Michael Muir

Press and Communications Officer
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament