President Donald Trump of the United States on Wednesday ordered the Defense Department to immediately commence the testing of nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with other nations.
The development follows Russia’s testing of a new long-range nuclear powered underwater weapon and recently a nuclear powered missile with unlimited range, President Vladimir Putin referred to as “a unique weapon that no other country possess”
While issuing the order, Trump said in a post on his Truth Social that “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”
He said: “That process will begin immediately.”
Trump, who has lately boasted about U.S. military capabilities, said the decision to resume testing was about reaching parity with Moscow and Beijing.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” he said in his social media post, adding that “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
The last confirmed nuclear test by the United States was in 1992, when President George H.W. Bush announced a moratorium on underground nuclear testing.
China’s last known testing of a nuclear weapon was in 1996, and Russia’s recent weapons testing did not detonate a nuclear weapon, just the delivery technology.
Trump earlier this year called denuclearization “a big aim,” telling reporters over the summer that “Russia’s willing to do it, and I think China is going to be willing to do it, too.”
“We can’t let nuclear weapons proliferate. We have to stop nuclear weapons,” he added.
Beijing, at the time, rejected Trump’s appeal for China to join the United States and Russia in reducing stockpiles, saying it was “neither reasonable nor realistic.”
