Trump Announces Major Decision On Nuclear Weapons

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the United States will ramp up nuclear weapons testing to be on an “equal basis” to other countries’ programs.

“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” the president said in a Truth Social post. “This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term. Because of other countries [sic] testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”

In an accompanying video message, Trump added, “Because of the tremendous destructive power, I hated to do it, having to do with nuclear weapons, but I really had no choice. Russia is second in line, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years.”

The president’s Wednesday announcement appears to escalate previous moves he has made to increase U.S. research and testing into nuclear weapons. It also follows earlier warnings the president has made about U.S. intelligence on Russia and China’s testing programs.

“Russia’s testing nuclear weapons,” Trump said during an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired over the weekend. “And China’s testing them too. You just don’t know about it.”

“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report,” the president said. “We’re going to test, because they test and others test.”

Trump added in the interview that North Korea and Pakistan have also been testing nuclear weapons.

In response to Trump’s comments on “60 Minutes,” Russia said that it would resume nuclear weapons testing, as well. Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Russia’s Security Council on Wednesday and claimed that while Russia has abided by the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, he would explore testing.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, said in a post on X, “No one knows what Trump meant about ‘nuclear testing’ (he probably doesn’t himself). But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged nuclear tests itself.”