Editor’s Note: Guest columnist Neil Bhatiya is filling in for Stewart Patrick this week. On July 18, in the Trump administration’s first punitive measure since Iran announced earlier this month that it would exceed the levels of enriched uranium permitted under the international nuclear deal, the United States expanded sanctions against Tehran to include a network of international companies it said were linked to procuring materials for Iran’s nuclear program. In announcing the sanctions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said his department was “taking action to shut down an Iranian nuclear procurement network that leverages Chinese- and Belgium-based front companies […]
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With the announcement this week that it has begun to enrich uranium above the 3.67 percent limit allowed by the 2015 international deal curbing its nuclear program, Iran has opened another round of high-stakes signaling with the Trump administration, which withdrew from the agreement last year, and the European nations that helped negotiate it. The move is the latest attempt by Iran to impose costs both on Washington for having reimposed punishing economic sanctions, and on Europe for its inability to mitigate their pain. The incremental but reversible breach of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, as the […]
When North Korea’s young dictator, Kim Jong Un, came to power in 2012, many observers thought his days at the top would be numbered. Yet despite numerous predictions of an imminent coup or even regime collapse, Kim defied all odds by ruthlessly purging potential rivals and consolidating power. Now, he sits securely atop one of the most reclusive and repressive governments in the world. Few official details are available about Kim’s life, but a new book aims to peel back the layers of secrecy around him. In “The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong Un,” […]