Just before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, Trump ordered the U.S. military to resume testing the U.S. nuclear arsenal after a 33 year hiatus.
The announcement came on Truth Social and suggested the testing would be on an equal basis with China and Russia.
The U.S. military already regularly tests its missiles that are capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, but it has not detonated the weapons since 1992. The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which the U.S. signed but did not ratify, has been observed since its adoption by all countries possessing nuclear weapons, North Korea being the only exception.
Russia – which tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile on October 21, held nuclear readiness drills on October 22 and tested a new nuclear-powered autonomous torpedo on October 28 – said it hoped Trump had been properly informed that Moscow had not tested a nuclear weapon itself.
— Reuters