Latest Nuclear weapons News

North Korean leader urges greater nuclear weapons production in response to a 'new Cold War'

Sep. 28, 2023 02:28 AM EDT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a “new Cold War,” state media said Thursday. The...

Iran says it has successfully launched an imaging satellite into orbit amid tensions with the West

Sep. 27, 2023 10:25 AM EDT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran claimed on Wednesday that it successfully launched an imaging satellite into space, a move that could further ratchet up tensions with Western nations that fear its space technology could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Iran's...

Birthplace of the atomic bomb braces for its biggest mission since the top-secret Manhattan Project

Sep. 23, 2023 15:34 PM EDT

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — Los Alamos was the perfect spot for the U.S. government’s top-secret Manhattan Project. Almost overnight, the ranching enclave on a remote plateau in northern New Mexico was transformed into a makeshift home for scientists, engineers and young soldiers...

As the world's problems grow more challenging, the head of the United Nations gets bleaker

Sep. 23, 2023 00:07 AM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — At the annual meeting of world leaders last year, the U.N. chief sounded a global alarm about the survival of humanity and the planet. This year, the alarm rang louder and more ominously, and the message was even more pressing: Wake up and take action — right now. ...

Iran's president says US should ease sanctions to demonstrate it wants to return to nuclear deal

Sep. 21, 2023 08:01 AM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday that relations with the United States can move forward if the Biden administration demonstrates it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, and a first step should be easing sanctions. He told a news conference...

South Korean leader warns Russia against weapons collaboration with the North

Sep. 20, 2023 20:23 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — South Korea's president sounded a warning to fellow world leaders Wednesday about the recent communication and possible cooperation between North Korea and Russia, saying any action by a permanent U.N. Security Council member to circumvent international norms would be...

This is what it's like to maintain the US nuclear arsenal

Sep. 20, 2023 15:27 PM EDT

KANSAS CITY NATIONAL SECURITY CAMPUS, Mo. (AP) — The U.S. will spend more than $750 billion over the next decade to revamp nearly every part of its aging nuclear defenses. Officials say they simply can't wait any longer — some systems and parts are more than 50 years old. For...

Inside the delicate art of maintaining America's aging nuclear weapons

Sep. 20, 2023 14:30 PM EDT

KANSAS CITY NATIONAL SECURITY CAMPUS, Mo. (AP) — In an ultra-sterile room at a secure factory in Kansas City, U.S. government technicians refurbish the nation’s nuclear warheads. The job is exacting: Each warhead has thousands of springs, gears and copper contacts that must work in conjunction...

Iran's president urges US to demonstrate it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal

Sep. 20, 2023 00:24 AM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said Tuesday that his country will never give up its right “to have peaceful nuclear energy” and urged the United States “to demonstrate in a verifiable fashion” that it wants to return to the 2015 nuclear deal. ...

Japan's Kishida, at UN, tries to get the global nuclear disarmament effort back on track

Sep. 19, 2023 22:54 PM EDT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed Tuesday night to lead the effort to put the struggling global nuclear disarmament effort back on track, proposing to encourage nuclear weapons states to engage in discussions with non-nuclear weapons states. Kishida...