CND's Press Round-Up - 22nd June 2021

Posted: 22nd June 2021

Please find today’s press round up below. Thank you to all for their continued help and support.

Nuclear Weapons

The new Iranian president has made his first public comments on the Vienna negotiations whilst there are some grounds for optimism on the direction of Biden’s nuclear policy. 

Iranian Presidential Election Aftermath
 
The newly elected President of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, has given his first press conference. The BBC reports that he said he welcomed the continued negotiations in Vienna but that they must not drag on without end. Raisi added that Iran’s ballistic missile programme was ‘non-negotiable’, something which will anger the U.S. and its allies in the Gulf autocracies. He also said that he would not meet Joe Biden, if the opportunity arose. On foreign policy more widely, he signalled that increased economic cooperation with China would be a priority. Turnout for Friday’s election is now confirmed at around 48%, the lowest on record.
 
Nuclear Weapon Diplomacy
 
Writing in the Guardian, thinktank nuclear policy analyst Jane Kinninmont places recent diplomatic overtures between Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin in a longer historical view. She points to the real difficulties in obtaining the inclusion in the statement from Geneva that ‘a nuclear war should never be fought and could never be won’. This declaration was apparently discreetly opposed by the French and British governments, who briefed journalists that ‘it wasn’t the right time’. Kinninmont suggests that there might be faint grounds for optimism in regards to the Biden administration’s nuclear posture policy, since Biden declaration during his election campaign that he might reverse the 2018 policy review. This policy review said that U.S. nuclear weapons served as a deterrent against non-nuclear as well as nuclear attacks on the U.S.

Anti-war

The Foreign Secretary is visiting Southeast Asia, whilst Israeli arms companies announce a new project.

UK Influence in Southeast Asia
 
The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has left for a trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Singapore, according to the Times of India. The stated intention of the trip is to promote trade relations between the UK and the countries. Part of this might involve the arms trade, as countries throughout Southeast Asia have been increasing their military spending in response to the rise of China. Raab will also speak at a meeting of the ten-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Israeli Military Activity
 
The Elbit arms company, which has been targeted by repeated protests for its complicity in the violation of Palestinian human rights, is developing laser weaponry in conjunction with the Israeli military, Reuters reports. The intention of the project is to make a laser capable of shooting down drones and other airborne weapons. The laser would be launched from a small plane. A prototype is expected to be deployed within three to four years.