US to Station Nuclear Weapons in UK to Counter Threat from Russia

THE TELEGRAPH: Warheads to be housed at RAF Lakenheath for first time in 15 years, Pentagon documents reveal, as Moscow warns of 'escalation'

The United States is planning to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in 15 years as the threat from Russia increases, Pentagon documents seen by The Telegraph reveal.

Procurement contracts for a new facility at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk confirm that the US intends to place nuclear warheads three times the strength of the Hiroshima bomb at the air base.

The US removed nuclear missiles from the UK in 2008, judging that the Cold War threat from Moscow had diminished.

The disclosure comes in the wake of warnings that Nato countries need to ready their citizens for war with Russia.

Last week, Adml Rob Bauer, a senior Nato military official, said that private citizens should prepare for all-out war with Russia in the next 20 years that would require wholesale change in their lives. » | Tony Diver, US Editor | Friday, January 26, 2024

Lukashenko Says He Could Launch Russian Nuclear Weapons - BBC News

Jul 7, 2023 | The President of Belarus has suggested that he could use tactical nuclear weapons, which are being deployed in his country by Russia. Alexander Lukashenko is a close ally of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his country served as a launchpad for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Recently President Putin announced that Russian nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus. He said they would only be used if the Russian state or its territory was threatened.

Speaking to the BBC’s Russia Editor Steve Rosenberg, the Belarus President Lukashenko insisted that he could launch the weapons if he chose to. He said: “In Ukraine a whole army is fighting with foreign weapons, with NATO weapons. So why can’t I fight with someone else’s?” Mr Lukashenko also said that the leader of the Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin was in Russia. The Wagner leader hasn’t been seen since he staged a mutiny against Russia’s military leadership.

Clive Myrie presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Steve Rosenberg in Minsk and Gordon Corera in Kyiv.

Petraeus: US Would Destroy Russia’s Troops If Putin Uses Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine

THE GUARDIAN: Former CIA director and retired army general says Moscow’s leader is ‘desperate’ and ‘battlefield reality he faces is irreversible’

Former CIA director and retired army general David Petraeus in 2015. Photograph: Chris Keane/REUTERS
The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black sea fleet – if Russian president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons in the country, former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday.

Petreaus said that he had not spoken to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on the likely US response to nuclear escalation from Russia, which administration officials have said has been repeatedly communicated to Moscow.

He told ABC News: “Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black sea.”

The warning comes days after Putin expressed views that many have interpreted as a threat of a larger war between Russia and the west. » | Edward Helmore | Sunday, October 2, 2022

Russia Warns of Nuclear Weapons in Baltic if Sweden and Finland Join Nato

THE GUARDIAN: ‘No more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic,’ senior member of security council says

‘The balance must be restored’ in the Baltic, says Dmitry Medvedev (right), pictured with Vladimir Putin in 2020. Photograph: Yuri Kochetkov/EPA
Moscow has said it will be forced to strengthen its defences in the Baltic if Finland and Sweden join Nato, including by deploying nuclear weapons, as the war against Ukraine entered its seventh week and the country braced for a major attack in the east.

The Russian former president Dmitry Medvedev, a senior member of Russia’s security council, said on Thursday that all its forces in the region would be bolstered if the two Nordic countries joined the US-led alliance.

Finland and Sweden are deliberating over whether to abandon decades of military non-alignment and join Nato, with the two Nordic countries’ leaders saying Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine had changed Europe’s “whole security landscape”.

Their accession to the alliance would more than double Russia’s land border with Nato members, Medvedev said. “Naturally, we will have to reinforce these borders” by bolstering ground, air and naval defences in the region, he said. » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent | Thursday, April 14, 2022

Russia Reasserts Right to Use Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine

THE GUARDIAN: The Kremlin again raised the spectre of the use of nuclear weapons in the war with Ukraine as Russian forces struggled to hold a key city in the south the country.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is deputy chairman of the country’s security council, said Moscow could strike against an enemy that only used conventional weapons while Vladimir Putin’s defence minster claimed nuclear “readiness” was a priority.

The comments on Saturday prompted Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in an appearance by video link at Qatar’s Doha Forum to warn that Moscow was a direct threat to the world. » | Daniel Boffey | Saturday, March 26, 2022

Russia Issues Subtle Threats More Far-Reaching Than a Ukraine Invasion

THE NEW YORK TIMES: If the West fails to meet its security demands, Moscow could take measures like placing nuclear missiles close to the U.S. coastline, Russian officials have hinted.

Russian tanks took part in drills in Russia’s Rostov region near the border with Ukraine this week. Associated Press
VIENNA — No one expected much progress from this past week’s diplomatic marathon to defuse the security crisis Russia has ignited in Eastern Europe by surrounding Ukraine on three sides with 100,000 troops and then, by the White House’s accounting, sending in saboteurs to create a pretext for invasion.

But as the Biden administration and NATO conduct tabletop simulations about how the next few months could unfold, they are increasingly wary of another set of options for President Vladimir V. Putin, steps that are more far-reaching than simply rolling his troops and armor over Ukraine’s border.

Mr. Putin wants to extend Russia’s sphere of influence to Eastern Europe and secure written commitments that NATO will never again enlarge. If he is frustrated in reaching that goal, some of his aides suggested on the sidelines of the negotiations last week, then he would pursue Russia’s security interests with results that would be felt acutely in Europe and the United States.

There were hints, never quite spelled out, that nuclear weapons could be shifted to places — perhaps not far from the United States coastline — that would reduce warning times after a launch to as little as five minutes, potentially igniting a confrontation with echoes of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. » | Anton Troianovski and David E. Sanger | Sunday, January 16, 2022

Russia Obsession Let Trump Abandon Nuclear Treaties—Wilkerson and Jay

While there's ample evidence to indict Trump for obstruction and Democrats naively trusted Mueller, more crucial issue is the missed opportunity to negotiate stronger nuclear weapons treaties—Larry Wilkerson joins Paul Jay

Is the Use of Nuclear Weapons Becoming More Thinkable? - BBC Newsnight

Mark Urban talks to Gary Samore, the White House Coordinator for Arms Control under President Obama, and Director for Non-proliferation under President Clinton.

"Without Nuclear Weapons, North Korea Would Cease To exist"

Rouhani Says Iran Will Not Acquire Nuclear Weapons 'On Principle'

President Hassan Rouhani has told Iran's generals to avoid
provocative military manoeuvres.

THE GUARDIAN: • President says religion forbids pursuit of WMDs
• Generals told to let diplomacy do its work

Iran’s president said on Saturday the Islamic Republic has decided not to develop nuclear weapons out of principle, not only because it is prevented from doing so by treaties.

President Hassan Rouhani also urged Iran’s military leaders to let diplomacy prevail in dealing with potential foreign threats, in a clear reference to efforts to end the nuclear dispute and decades of hostile relations with the west.

“It is very important to formulate one’s sentences and speeches in a way that is not construed as threat, intention to strike a blow,” Rouhani said in a meeting with Iran’s top military echelon.

“We must be very careful in our calculations. Launching missiles and staging military exercises to scare off the other side is not good deterrence, although a necessity in its proper place,” the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. “A misfire could burst into flames and wreak havoc to everything.” » | Agencies in Tehran | Saturday, March 01, 2014

Iran’s President Rouhani: We Will Never Develop Nuclear Weapons

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Read the NBC News article here | Tracy Conner, Staff Writer, NBC News | Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Former French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner: If Iran Gets Nuclear Weapon, It Will Not Hesitate to Use It; World Should Protect Israel (January 4, 2013)

MI6 Chief Sir John Sawers: 'We Foiled Iranian Nuclear Weapons Bid'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: MI6 agents have foiled Iran’s attempts to obtain nuclear weapons but the Middle Eastern state will succeed in arming itself within the next two years, the head of the Secret Intelligence Service has warned.

Sir John Sawers said that covert operations by British spies had prevented the Iranians from developing nuclear weapons as early as 2008.

However, the MI6 chief said it was now likely they would achieve their goal by 2014, making a military strike from the US and Israel increasingly likely.

Sir John gave a secret briefing to the Cabinet in March about Iran’s growing military threat but this is the first time his views on the issue have been made public.

It is extremely rare for the head of MI6 to disclose details of operations by the intelligence service.

Sir John made the remarks at a meeting of around 100 senior civil servants in London last week in only his second public speech since he was appointed to the post in 2009.

Speaking at the Civil Service Live event in Olympia he said that Iran was now “two years away” from becoming a “nuclear weapons state”.

He said that “when that moment came” Israel or the United States would have to decide whether to launch a military strike. » | Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent | Thursday, July 12, 2012

Related »

Three Swiss Men Charged in Libya Nuclear Weapons Case
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Three Swiss men face up to 10 years in prison for involvement in illegal sales of nuclear weapons systems to Col Muammar Gaddafi's Libyan regime.

Swiss prosecutors said Friedrich Tinner and his sons Marco and Urs had pleaded guilty of supplying nuclear equipment through the network of AQ Khan, the Pakistani scientist who sold uranium enrichment to Muslim states. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Prepare for Iran War
YNET NEWS: Op-ed: In wake of damning UN report on Iran’s nuclear plan, world must prepare for war

Tuesday’s dramatic United Nations report indicating that Iran has been working towards producing nuclear weapons constitutes a huge humiliation for the world. For years now, the international community has foolishly dismissed this menace as either nascent or non-existent, while refraining from earnestly confronting the ayatollahs’ obvious nuke ambitions. Did anyone honestly think this approach would make the threat go away?

The blunt revelations contained in Tuesday’s report make a mockery of the global so-called effort to curb Iran’s race to the bomb. They also highlight the extent to which Tehran has been making a mockery of the world, lying brazenly and feeding absurd explanations to statesmen all too willing to accept them. How could anyone believe that Iran’s nuclear reactor was established for “medical research” purposes? » | Yigal Walt | Wednesday, November 09, 2011

With Gaddafi Gone, Iran Is Once Again Top of the West's List of Problems

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The drumbeat of war against Iran is set to beat much louder when the UN’s nuclear watchdog publishes the findings of its long-awaited report next week that the country is well advanced in its attempts to build a nuclear bomb

Because of Libya, international concern over Iran’s controversial nuclear programme has taken second place to the Nato-led effort to overthrow Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime.

But now that Nato has officially declared the Libya mission at an end, the far more problematic issue of how to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions is once again making all the headlines on the international security agenda.

Next week’s report by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is widely expected to be the most unequivocal assessment of Tehran’s nuclear intentions in more than a decade. » | Con Coughlin | Wednesday, November 02, 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Iran: the damning nuclear evidence – Iran is attempting to engineer and test nuclear weapons at a series of banned production sites in defiance of United Nations sanctions, according to a report to be released next week. » | Damien McElroy, Adrian Blomfield in Jerusalem, Duncan Gardham and Alex Spillius | Wednesday, November 02, 2011

Iran on Brink of Nuclear Weapon, Warns Watchdog
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran has passed a crucial nuclear threshold, weapons inspectors have warned, and could now go on to arm an atomic missile with relative ease.

Hillary Clinton during the imposition of sanctions. The may be hurting the economy but Iran's weapons programme is continuing. Photo: The Telegraph
A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iranian nuclear scientists had made at least 22 kilograms of enriched uranium at least 20 per cent purity, a technical hurdle that is the hardest to overcome on the way to weapons-grade uranium.

Experts estimate that 20 kgs of uranium is the minimum required to arm a warhead. The uranium would still need to have its purity raised to 90 per cent, but that is a relatively easy process.

The agency's report comes in spite of the recent imposition at the United Nations of a fresh round of sanctions against Iran and will heighten fears of an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear plants. The prospect of an attack had receded only recently with American assurances that Tehran was more than a year away from acquiring a bomb.

The Vienna-based nuclear watchdog said Tehran had maintained its absolute defiance of international pressure to curb its programme despite the imposition of harsh sanctions in May. The IAEA has grown increasingly alarmed at Iran's behaviour and the latest report, which will be presented to the agency's governors at a meeting next week, lambasted Tehran on a series of fronts. >>> Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Monday, September 06, 2010

While the West dilly-dorks and faffs around with sanctions which will never have the desired effect, Iran continues with its nuclear programme. When the Iranians will have the bomb, and will be able to threaten Israel and Europe, it will be too late. And all this is taking place on Hussein Obama's watch. Sanctions won't work against the mullahs of Iran, no more than they'd have worked against Hitler and Nazi Germany. Find your backbone and deal with the matter. Get with the story! – © Mark

Iran '12 Months From Nuclear Weapon', US Warns
THE TELEGRAPH: The US sought to reassure Israel that Iran is still a year away from building a nuclear weapon, as Iran's leadership hailed the fuelling of its first nuclear power plant on Saturday.

Iran's Nuclear Chief Ali Akbar Salehi. Photo: The Telegraph
Iranian television showed live pictures of Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and his Russian counterpart watching a fuel rod assembly being prepared for insertion into the reactor at Bushehr.

"Despite all the pressures, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the start-up of the largest symbol of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Mr Salehi told a news conference afterwards. He described the plant as "a symbol of Iranian resistance and patience". >>> Agency in Tehran and Telegraph reporter | Saturday, August 21, 2010

B. Hussein Obama Discloses His Hand
THE TELEGRAPH: The United States has become the first country to disclose an up-to-date figure for the number of weapons in its nuclear arsenal.

It has done so to encourage more openness from other nuclear states and to further President Barack Obama's goal of global disarmament.

The Pentagon said 5,113 warheads were either operationally deployed, kept in active reserve or held in inactive storage. On a fact sheet detailing numbers that had been classified for decades, it said that the arsenal has been reduced by 84 per cent from its maximum level of 31,225 warheads at the end of 1967.

The total disclosed by the Pentagon did not include the number of warheads that have been retired and scheduled for complete dismantlement, an estimated 4,600 according to the Federation of American Scientists.

The Pentagon did not detail the size of the remaining warheads. But according to previous analysis many weapons in the arsenal are far more powerful than the 15 kilotons of TNT used at Hiroshima and the 22 kiloton bomb dropped on Nagasaki. US has more than 5,000 nuclear warheads >>> Alex Spillius in New York | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Boost for Disarmament Talks as US Reveals Size of Nuclear Arsenal
TIMES ONLINE: The US revealed the size of its nuclear arsenal last night in an unprecedented attempt to galvanise efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, announced the declassification of one of the Pentagon’s most closely guarded secrets at the opening day of a critical international meeting on global disarmament.

The Pentagon’s figures show that the US stockpile consists of 5,113 nuclear warheads and “several thousand” more retired warheads that await dismantling. The figures reveal an 84 per cent reduction from the historic peak of 31,225 warheads in 1967 at the height of the Cold War.

“Beginning today, the United States will make public the number of nuclear weapons in our stockpile and the number of weapons we have dismantled since 1991,” Mrs Clinton told the UN review conference on the Non-Proliferation Treaty. “So for those who doubt that the United States will do its part on disarmament, this is our record, these are our commitments and they send a clear, unmistakable signal.” >>> Catherine Philp in New York | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: US shows its nuclear hand in bid to show sincerity on arms: Exact number of US warheads revealed for first time as Iran's leader hits out on first day of non-proliferation talks >>> Julian Borger and Andrew Clark in New York | Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Report: U.S. in Talks to Declare Mideast Nuclear-free Zone
HAARETZ: The United States and Egypt are negotiating a proposal that would make the Middle East a nuclear-free zone, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, saying the effort was a meant to prevent Iran from disrupting an upcoming UN conference on nuclear nonproliferation.

U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the move could be a significant step toward showing that Washington, who is often criticized of overlooking Israel's reported nuclear arsenal, could be even handed in its attempt to ensure the Middle East is free of nuclear weapons.

"We've made a proposal to them [Egypt] that goes beyond what the U.S. has been willing to do before," senior U.S. officials told the WSJ, adding that they didn't believe that would happen without first achieving major advances in Arab-Israeli peace talks. >>> Haaretz Service | Saturday, May 01, 2010