Hey, what's news listeners?
It's Sunday, April 13th.
I'm Luke Vargas for The Wall Street Journal, and this is What's News Sunday,
the show where we tackle the big questions about the biggest stories in the news by reaching out to our colleagues across the newsroom to help explain what's happening in our world.
And this week, as the U.S. and Iran renew talks over Tehran's nuclear program,
could we be at the dawn of a new nuclear arms race?
It's a question surfacing the world over, as countries in Europe,
Asia, and the Middle East question whether America's nuclear umbrella offers enough protection,
and which is driving some to seek out the protection of others, or consider building their own nukes.
We'll look at who's scoping out new nuclear deterrence, the proliferation risks of a renewed arms race,
and what the process of actually building a nuclear program would look like in 2025.
A little later on,
we will be joined by nuclear weapons expert Daebak Dost to discuss the practical details of going nuclear.
But first, let me introduce journal reporter Lawrence Norman,
and from the London think-tank Chatham House senior research fellow Marion Messmer,
an expert in arms control and nuclear weapons policy.
Lawrence, let me start with you.
Just to set the stage here,
walk us through what we have been hearing specifically from US allies in Europe about their interest in new deterrence options on the nuclear front.
So I think the first thing to say is that this change so far is incremental.