U.S. President Donald Trump has directed the Pentagon to immediately begin to match other nuclear powers in testing nuclear weapons, specifically citing Russia and China.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump stated on Wednesday that “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 message was delivered less than an hour before Trump was scheduled to meet with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in South Korea on Thursday morning, in an attempt to reach a truce in the trade war. It is the initial meeting between the two since 2019.
The United States previously conducted a nuclear weapons test in 1992, and it is not known whether China and Russia have had any such tests since then.
The fact that Trump mentioned “on an equal basis” made it unclear what weapons testing would occur, or even whether Trump was referring to power displays like the one that had just been made by Russia.
No other country besides North Korea is reported to have carried out a full explosive nuclear test since the year 1998.
However, now countries with nuclear weapons, like the US, have conducted simulated nuclear test explosions using high-powered computers, there have been experiments relating to nuclear physics, nuclear-capable missile tests, warhead mechanisms, and “subcritical” tests of nuclear materials to make sure their arsenals are still viable.
Pentagon officials did not react immediately to such an announcement made by Trump.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia had successfully tested its “unique” nuclear-propelled Burevestnik cruise missile that is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
It was described by the Kremlin as part of “ensure the country’s national security.” The announcement of Putin was later termed as “not appropriate” by Trump.
Sergei Ryabkov, a close confederate of Putin, informed the Russian media that Moscow had informed the US of the test beforehand.
The timing of the Burevestnik test in Russia is also interesting to note, as it coincided with a period of nuclear posturing by the Kremlin and a break in US-Russia talks over the war in Ukraine.
Putin announced on Wednesday that Russia had also conducted a test of a Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo, which, according to military analysts, would have the power to decimate coastal areas by detonating a nuclear warhead and causing massive radioactive ocean waves that would flood and pollute cities.
Another fake statement made by Trump in a post on his Truth Social was that the US has more nuclear weapons than any other country.
According to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Russia has the most verified nuclear weapons of over 5,500 nuclear warheads compared to 5,044 nuclear weapons by the US.
The final US nuclear test was designated as the “Divider” and was conducted on September 23, 1992, but presently it is called the Nevada National Security Site.
The Former President of the U.S., George HW Bush, has declared a moratorium on underground nuclear testing in the present year.
Meanwhile, the U.S. can restart the tests at the Nevada National Security Site.
Nevada congresswoman Dina Titus, in response to Trump’s post said wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) that “Absolutely not. I’ll be introducing legislation to put a stop to this.”
Although both Moscow and Washington have said repeatedly that they desire to stop the arms race, at least some progress has been made.
Recently, the Kremlin has condemned the move by Trump to come up with a missile shield, the so-called Golden Dome, which, according to him, would make the US impervious to an attack.
Trump has also allegedly planned to expand the US nuclear arsenal by “tenfold,” during his first term in office, as NBC News reported at the time.
He wrote in a tweet in 2016 that “The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.”
