North Korea threatened on Friday evening to revive nuclear development if the U.S. doesn't lift economic sanctions against the country, the Associated Press reports.
The big picture: North Korea did not threaten to walk away from ongoing negotiations with the U.S., but the Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the "improvement of the relations and sanctions is incompatible," per the AP. A professor of North Korea studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, Dr. Koh Yu Whan, told the AP that the threats aren't serious yet, and that North Korea wants "to vent their complaints out loud."
All U.S. sanctions on Iran that were lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal will be reimposed on Monday, however, "eight jurisdictions" will receive exemptions allowing them to continue to import Iranian oil in the short term, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said during a call with reporters on Friday.
Why it matters: This is the second and most significant round of sanctions to be reimposed on Iran, targeting its energy, financial and shipping sectors. The announcement both underlines the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" approach to Iran, and the degree to which it has divided the international community. Some Republican hardliners now believe Trump is going soft by not using all the tools at his disposal.
Between 2009 and 2013, Iran compromised a CIA system used to talk to operatives in Iran by using Google to identify the websites that concealed communications, according to Yahoo News' Zach Dorfman and Jenna McLaughlin.
The big picture: We already knew a similar system was uncovered by the Chinese around the same time, possibly due to alleged double agent Jerry Lee. It's unclear if the Iranian and Chinese compromises involved any collaboration.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu today spoke publicly about the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi for the first time and backed the Saudi government, which is trying to fend off international pressure over the crisis.
Why it matters: Israel had been working mainly behind the scenes and refrained from speaking publicly on the Khashoggi affair. Netanyahu's statements show Israel still has the back of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman — its secret ally over the last few years.
Republican hawks are planning to introduce legislation later this month that would force President Trump to take a harder approach to Iran, out of fear that the president is "going soft" on them, Politico's Eliana Johnson reports.
The big picture: New sanctions are expected to be announced later today, and these Republicans "expect that Trump will disappoint them," Johnson writes. The legislation, which will reportedly be introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and cosponsored by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), would pressure Trump into cutting off Iranian banks' access to the global banking network, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT).
