Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Wednesday night to restart nuclear weapons testing for the first time in over 30 years, citing aggressive advancements by Russia and China as the reason for breaking the long-standing U.S. moratorium.
The directive came via a late-night post on Trump’s Truth Social platform, just hours before his scheduled summit with Xi Jinping in South Korea. “Because of other countries testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump wrote.
The announcement follows Vladimir Putin’s public unveiling of a new underwater nuclear drone designed to unleash massive tsunamis.
“In terms of speed and operating depth, there is nothing like this unmanned vehicle anywhere in the world, and it’s unlikely that anything similar will appear in the near future,” Putin said Wednesday.
Trump argued the U.S. must match its rivals, claiming the nation “has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country” and credited his prior term with modernizing the arsenal.
He warned that the U.S. possesses “tremendous destructive power,” though the Federation of American Scientists currently estimates that Russia holds the largest number of nuclear warheads.
He placed Russia as the second most powerful nuclear force and called China a “distant third,” but warned that Beijing could close the gap in five years.
Trump said he “hated to do it” but claimed he was forced to act due to the escalating nuclear capabilities of both nations.
The move breaks a policy in place since September 1992, when the U.S. conducted its last full-scale nuclear test.
All three nations—Russia, China and the U.S.—signed the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear explosions, though neither the U.S. nor China ever ratified it.
Russia ratified the treaty in 2000 but pulled out in 2023 to align with the U.S. position.
North Korea remains the only country to have carried out nuclear explosive tests in the 21st century.
Last week, Trump dismissed Russia’s test of a nuclear-powered missile with “unlimited range,” calling it an inappropriate focus and urging Putin to “get the war ended,” referring to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Trump also emphasized the U.S. military’s readiness, saying, “We test missiles all the time” and pointing to a nuclear submarine “right off Russia’s shore” that doesn’t “have to go 8,000 miles.”
The U.S. has relied on simulations and maintenance programs since the early 1990s to ensure its nuclear stockpile remains functional without live testing.