The United States will resume nuclear testing after three decades following President Donald Trump’s orders.
President Trump on Wednesday, October 30, ordered the Defense Department (DOD) to begin testing nuclear weapons amid an arms race with Russia and China.
The 79-year-old wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, “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.”
“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.
This came hours before his first meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping since 2019 in South Korea on Thursday morning.
Notably, the US last held full nuclear weapons tests in 1992. China and Russia, like America, are thought not to have conducted any full nuclear weapons tests since then.
Furthermore, the US last week criticised Russia for carrying out a test of a Poseidon nuclear-powered super torpedo that military experts reveal has unlimited range and is capable of destroying coastal areas, creating massive radioactive waves that could poison nearby cities.
As per the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons data, Russia has the most, over 5,500, confirmed nuclear weapons, while the US has 5,044 nuclear warheads.
