Trump announced the resumption of nuclear testing in the US, following the example of China and Russia

US President Donald Trump reiterated on Sunday that the US will resume nuclear testing. On the CBS program “60 Minutes,” he stated that Russia and China are secretly conducting tests despite both countries' official statements that they will not do so.

The White House chief said he did not want the United States to be the only country not testing its nuclear arsenal while countries such as North Korea and Pakistan were doing so. The Department of Defense should therefore resume testing “immediately.”

Trump was responding to Russia's recent tests of its Poseidon nuclear torpedo. He first announced the resumption of American testing last week before his meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in South Korea.

“You'll find out very soon, but we're going to be doing some testing,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday during the flight back to Palm Beach, Florida, when asked about underground nuclear testing. “Other countries are doing it. If they do it, we're going to do it too, OK?”

On Thursday, he instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing after a 33-year hiatus, which was seen as a message to rival nuclear powers China and Russia, Reuters news agency reported.

The last Russian nuclear test was conducted in 1990, during the Soviet era. China conducted its last tests in 1996, and the US in 1992. The last power to test its nuclear arsenal was North Korea in 2017.

Vice President JD Vance said the tests are intended to verify the functionality of existing weapons. Energy Secretary Chris Wright clarified that the United States will not conduct nuclear explosions for the time being, as these are system tests of mechanical and electronic components without actual nuclear explosions.

(cbs news, reuters, sie, sab)