The week in nuclear: 2 to 8 November 2026

Iran: talks via Qatar, a US reward offer and a missile range statement

On 2 November, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had a two-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations with the United States if Washington met its conditions, the Associated Press reported. The plan was conveyed through Qatari mediators and shortens a seven-day proposal Iran made earlier. According to AP, Baghaei gave no indication that the US had accepted it (Business Today).

Qatar's role came up again on 6 November, when Bloomberg reported that the US and Iran were moving closer to a possible breakthrough in talks to end their war. Citing an unnamed diplomat, Bloomberg said Tehran was studying proposals from Qatar on its nuclear activities, issues it had previously refused to discuss. Bloomberg said negotiations had stalled since an interim peace deal agreed in June collapsed.

The same day, US Central Command said on X that the State Department's Rewards for Justice programme offers up to $20 million and possible relocation for information on Iran's nuclear programme, including facilities, equipment, scientific personnel and their movements. AFP reported that the State Department cited Iran's lack of IAEA safeguards compliance and the agency's loss of "continuity of knowledge" (France 24).

On 7 November, Revolutionary Guard spokesman Gen. Hossein Mohebbi told a press conference in Tehran that Iran's self-imposed 2,000 km limit on ballistic missile range had been lifted, the AP and Iran International reported. He did not say whether Iran has missiles that can fly farther. According to the AP, Iran is not known to have missiles beyond that range.

North Korea: warhead and air-defence tests

North Korea tested a strategic cruise missile carrying a mid-sized dispersal warhead on 2 November, state agency KCNA reported the next day. KCNA said the warhead could destroy a target area of 5 to 6 hectares and that the test checked a vertical-strike capability. Yonhap reported that it followed a cluster warhead test for tactical ballistic missiles on 31 October (The Korea Times).

On the morning of 4 November, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected multiple missiles fired towards the East Sea from the Sondok area in South Hamgyong Province, with types and impact area still under analysis. KCNA said on 5 November that North Korea had test-fired a newly designed air-defence missile system and that a long-range strategic cruise missile unit had struck a simulated airfield in a drill (The Korea Herald). Reuters, citing Seoul's Defence Ministry, described it as Pyongyang's fourth weapons launch in a month. The most recent nuclear explosive test on record remains North Korea's of 3 September 2017.

US and Chinese intercontinental missile programmes

Lockheed Martin said on 3 November that it and the US Air Force had completed a flight test of the unarmed, developmental Mk21A reentry vehicle, launched over the Pacific from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The company says the Mk21A is designed to carry the W87-1 warhead on the future Sentinel ICBM and that the flight data will inform its Critical Design Review (Defence Industry Europe).

On 5 November, Chinese state media showed the nuclear-capable DF-61 intercontinental ballistic missile and the DF-100 cruise missile to mark the anniversary of the first Dongfeng missile launch, the South China Morning Post reported. CCTV cited a military expert who said the DF-61 is in regular Rocket Force training. Flight notices issued around the same time led to online claims of an ICBM test, which have not been confirmed.

For context, New START, the last treaty limiting US and Russian strategic forces, expired on 5 February 2026 with no successor agreement, and SIPRI estimated the global inventory at 12,187 warheads as of January 2026.

Zaporizhzhia back on diesel generators

The IAEA said the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine lost all off-site power early on 8 November after its last remaining line, Ferosplavna-1, disconnected. The plant is running on emergency diesel generators, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called it the 27th such event of the conflict. The IAEA said fuel for the generators would last about two weeks, and plant management reported normal radiation levels (Asharq Al-Awsat, via Reuters).