New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has announced that his administration will resume nuclear weapons testing, the first since September 1992, when the US conducted its last detonation at the Nevada Test Site.
Trump made the announcement on Tuesday through a post on Truth Social, directing the Department of War to immediately begin testing nuclear weapons. He claimed the move was necessary to ensure that America acts “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, both of whom he named in the post.
The decision ends an over three–decade pause on testing by the US, when the country self-imposed a halt on nuclear explosions. In 1996, four years after its last test, the US signed the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) — which bans all nuclear explosions for both civil and military purposes — but never ratified it. Despite the treaty not having any legal ramifications domestically, successive US governments abided by its ethos.
The US is also a founding signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it signed in 1968 and which entered into force in 1970. The NPT classifies five countries — the US, Russia, China, UK, and France — as “nuclear weapon states” because of their possession of nuclear weapons prior to 1967.
Under the treaty, these five countries are meant to pursue disarmament while non-nuclear states commit to not developing or acquiring nuclear weapons. India, Pakistan, and Israel are not signatories to the NPT. Although the NPT does not explicitly ban testing, Trump’s announcement signals a setback on international nuclear disarmament.
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Sparking concern
Trump’s decision comes on the back of Russia President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that an autonomous nuclear-powered torpedo was successfully tested by Russia. The missile, named Poseidon, was tested on 28 October. Analysts believe it has a range of 10,000 km and a speed of about 185 km/hour.
China has also been stockpiling its nuclear weapons. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, the size of its arsenal has doubled from 300 weapons in 2020 to an estimated 600 in 2025.
“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. Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” read Trump’s post.
Trump made the announcement ahead of a trade negotiating session with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday. According to Reuters, Trump dismissed entering into a risky phase with nuclear weapons, stating that the US stockpiles were ‘well locked up’ and he would welcome denuclearisation.
The decision sparked concern among arms control experts and US politicians. Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of Arms Control Association and a self-proclaimed expert on nuclear non-proliferation, said Trump was “misinformed and out of touch”.
“The U.S. has no technical, military, or political reason to resume nuclear explosive testing for the first time since 1992,” he wrote on X. “It would take least 36 months to resume contained nuclear tests underground at the former test site in Nevada.”
Kimball added that Trump would trigger strong public opposition in Nevada from US allies and start a chain reaction of testing by US’ adversaries. Dina Titus, a Congresswoman representing Nevada, posted on X that she would introduce legislation to stop it.
Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister of Sweden and Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said on X that “Trump seems to believe that other countries are testing nuclear weapons. That’s not correct. It’s been decades since anyone tested one. If the misunderstanding is cleared up I sincerely hope [the US] doesn’t resume nuclear testing.”
Restarting nuclear testing won’t happen overnight. The US would need to reopen old sites, bring in skilled workers, and deal with legal, safety, and environmental rules. But Trump’s decision shows that the US — the world’s biggest nuclear power — is ready to break away from decades of self-imposed limits on testing.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)