President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon on Wednesday to begin nuclear weapons tests.
Trump said the testing is necessary because of China’s and Russia’s surging nuclear capabilities.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office,” he wrote in a Truth Social post.
“Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” he added. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately.”
The United States conducted its last nuclear testing in the early 1990s as part of Operation Julin. The last took place on Sept. 23, 1992. While the U.S. signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty alongside more than 150 countries, the Senate never ratified the signing.
Russia and China also signed the treaty but did not ratify it. India did not sign it. 2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the treaty, which banned all nuclear explosions.
Trump recently criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for testing a nuclear-powered missile, the Burevestnik, that could carry a nuclear warhead thousands of miles.
“I don’t think it’s an appropriate thing for Putin to be saying either, by the way. You ought to get the war ended. A war that should have taken one week is now in its soon-to-be fourth year. That’s what you ought to do instead of testing missiles,” he said.
China recently touted itself as a “responsible nuclear-weapon state” and maintains a nuclear test moratorium. A foreign ministry spokesperson said the country has kept to the CTBTO, or Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, standard. The CTBTO is the governing organization of the treaty.
“In recent years, China and the [CTBTO Provisional Technical Secretariat] have achieved significant cooperation outcomes in areas such as promoting the certification and acceptance of monitoring stations and enhancing capacity building for developing countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Monday during a press briefing.
“This demonstrates China’s consistent stance of earnestly fulfilling its international obligations and firmly supporting the Treaty,” he added.
PUTIN ATTEMPTS TO BLACKMAIL TRUMP WITH NUCLEAR MISSILE TEST
Trump’s declaration that nuclear testing will restart could aggravate international relations on a global scale. It’s unclear if Trump’s testing declaration is a direct response to Russia’s missile test.
The president’s announcement comes as he’s set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
Trump wrote right after his nuclear weapons post that the “G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
