Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists May 22, 2019

New nuclear flashpoints Over the last couple of weeks, tensions between the United States and Iran have flared and subsided, only to be reignited over the weekend as President Trump issued tweets seeming to threaten Iran's very existence. And although many experts believe there is broad consensus in Iran that the benefits of staying in the nuclear deal negotiated in 2015 outweigh the costs of leaving, comments from the Iranian government this week led Bulletin columnist Ariane Tabatabai to observe that "we may be facing Iranian violations soon." Then there is North Korea, which tested a new "tactical guided weapon" in mid-April and fired short-range ballistic missiles in early May. "For the first time," write Duyeon Kim and Melissa Hanham, "Washington, Pyongyang, and Seoul are reading from the same script and agree on one thing: these missiles ought not to be called 'missiles.' Instead, they are being named 'projectiles' and 'rockets.'" But "[A] small missile is a small missile until it starts a great big nuclear war." Keep coming back to our nuclear risk coverage to get the latest analysis on these and other nuclear risk flashpoints. Nuclear Risk coverage The Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign: A prelude to war with Iran? Dina Esfaniary A confused story about possible military action with Iran John Mecklin Three (now four) strikes mean that Bolton should be out Alexandra Bell, James McKeon The 10-minute interview: Ariane Tabatabai on tensions over the embattled Iran nuclear deal John Mecklin North Korean missiles: Size does not matter Duyeon Kim, Melissa Hanham Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un need the European Union Tereza Novotná, Alessandro Ford What Russia thinks about North Korea’s nuclear weapons Anastasia Barannikova We want to hear from you! Be sure to share your thoughts in the moderated comments section on Bulletin article pages. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.