North Korea announced a successful test of Hydrogen Bomb

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un

After a nuclear test in 2013, there was widespread condemnation. The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting at which its members, including China, 'strongly condemned' the test. Similar outrage is expected this time. Prime Minister Abe of Japan has said this fourth test was a 'serious threat to the safety of his nation'.

On top of any fourth nuclear test, North Korea also appears to have tested a submarine-launched missile. The ability to launch missiles from submarines would change the whole calculation of military response because warning times of an attack on, for example, the West Coast of the United States would be much shorter.

Experts believed before the fourth test that North Korea was still some years from being able to hit a target with a nuclear bomb delivered by a missile. But it is crystal clear that it is absolutely determined to be able to do so. It is also clear that it is improving its abilities rapidly.

If confirmed, it would mean Pyongyang is intent on pursuing its nuclear programme with little regard for the major political and diplomatic costs that will inevitably accompany this unwelcome development, says Dr John Nilsson-Wright of Asia Programme at Chatham House.

In a surprise announcement a newsreader on North Korean state TV said: 'The republic’s first hydrogen bomb test has been successfully performed at 10:00 am on January 6, 2016.'

Last month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang had developed a hydrogen bomb, although international experts were skeptical.

What is a hydrogen bomb?

A weapon energized by the nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes in a chain reaction, developed in 1958 by the United States

Also known as a thermo-nuclear bomb, it is seen as a 'cleaner' bomb than an atomic one as it has less radioactive fallout - but also much more powerful

Unlike an atomic bomb, powered by nuclear fission, a hydrogen bomb is powered by the fusion of lighter elements into heavier elements

Such bombs can be as small as a few feet long and can fit in warheads of ballistic missiles

Rafsanjani’s admissions: In the beginning we were looking to have such a capability to acquire nuclear bomb.

atom-akhoond

Khamenei and Rafsanjani personally wanted to meet Abdul Qadeer Khan

Quarter of a century later, Rafsanjani confirms Iranian Resistance’s disclosures of regime’s nuclear project

IAEA is unable to determine PMD without interviewing Rafsanjani and Khamenei

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian regime President and present head of regime’s State Exigency Council that has been regime’s No. 2 man from the outset made unprecedented concessions in an interview that the regime was looking to acquire nuclear bomb when it initiated its nuclear program and has never abandoned the idea.

According to this interview published by regime’s official news agency IRNA on 26 October 2015, Rafsanjani in the capacity of speaker of parliament or President and Khamenei as President or Supreme Leader of this regime have been personally following up the project to acquire the nuclear bomb. Moreover, Rafsanjani has acknowledged that from the onset there has been a comprehensive clandestine nuclear plan, including construction of secret sites, enrichment of uranium, manufacture of centrifuge parts, laser technology, and the heavy water reactor.

IRAN - It's wrong to let Iran regime “self-inspect” – dissident

Newly revealed side deals that allow the regime in Iran to inspect one of its own nuclear sites is tantamount to letting a murderer investigate his own crime scene, said Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the U.S.Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran .

Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of

 the U.S. Representative Office of Iran’s

Parliament-in-exile, the NCRI

"As far as Iran is concerned, they have not changed their agenda, which is building the bomb," Mr. Jafarzadeh said. "The supreme leader continues to seek building a nuclear bomb. Unfortunately, the JCPOA (Joint Completed Plan of Action) leaves all pathways to the bomb open."

Iran Will Cheat on Nuclear Deal to Build Bomb

In deed the only solution to the Nuclear Crisis is the removal of 

regime by people and their organized resistance.

The way forward in aftermath of a flawed Iran deal - Ali Safavi

The international community should support the Iranian people and their organized Resistance to bring about regime change in Iran as the ultimate solution to the nuclear crisis, Ali Safavi of the opposition coalition National Council ofResistance of Iran (NCRI) said on Friday.

Ali Safavi

The regime in Iran stands to accrue greater economic gains from the Iran nuclear deal agreed to last month, while simultaneously buying time to continue its long-standing deceptions in pursuit of illicit nuclear gains, Dr. Safavi wrote in the TheHill.com.

Many lawmakers and experts, including some key Democrats, have highlighted the flaws in the deal, he wrote. More tellingly has been the steady stream of mixed signals from the Iranian regime itself.