Former U.S. President Donald Trump drew swift condemnation Thursday after declaring he had ordered the resumption of U.S. nuclear weapons testing, a move the United Nations warned could trigger catastrophic consequences and unravel decades of global restraint.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s deputy spokesman, Farhan Haq, said nuclear testing “can never be permitted under any circumstances,” stressing that global nuclear risks are already “alarmingly high.”
Trump made the surprise announcement on his Truth Social platform minutes before meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, saying he had instructed the Department of War to begin testing U.S. nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China. The U.S. has not conducted a nuclear explosion since 1992 and, while it signed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, it never ratified it.
The Kremlin quickly warned that if Washington breaks the moratorium, Moscow would follow suit. “If someone abandons the moratorium, Russia will act accordingly,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously revoked Moscow’s ratification of the global test ban in 2023.
While Trump gave no details about when or where such tests would occur, his comments suggested a drastic shift in U.S. policy. He appeared to conflate the testing of missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads – which the U.S. military routinely performs – with detonating nuclear devices, which would violate international norms observed by every nuclear-armed nation except North Korea.
Arms control experts slammed the statement as reckless and uninformed. Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said Trump’s comments were “misinformed and out of touch,” warning that resuming tests would “trigger strong public opposition in Nevada, alienate allies, and blow apart the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.”
Japanese survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings condemned Trump’s announcement, calling it “an act that vehemently opposes all countries striving for a nuclear-free and peaceful world.”
China’s Foreign Ministry urged the U.S. to honor its commitments under the test ban treaty. “We hope the U.S. will earnestly fulfill its obligations and honor its commitment to suspend nuclear testing,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in Beijing.
Meanwhile in Brussels, the European Union said Russia and the U.S. “should not be put in the same basket” regarding nuclear tests, with EU spokesperson Anitta Hipper emphasizing that Moscow’s continued war against Ukraine already proves its disregard for peace. She added that all countries “must respect their international commitments.”
Despite his inflammatory rhetoric, Trump later told reporters he still wanted “denuclearization” and “de-escalation,” offering no details on how renewed testing would achieve those goals.
The White House, Pentagon, and Department of Energy declined to clarify Trump’s statement, which came just as he left South Korea for Washington aboard Air Force One.
The United States conducted 1,054 nuclear tests between July 16, 1945, when the first test was conducted in New Mexico, and 1992, as well as two nuclear attacks on Japan during World War II.
It is the only country to have used nuclear weapons in combat.
The last U.S. nuclear test explosion was in September 1992, with a 20-kiloton underground detonation at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site.
Then-President George H.W. Bush imposed a moratorium on further tests in October 1992 that has been continued by successive administrations.
Nuclear testing was replaced by non-nuclear and subcritical experiments using advanced computer simulations.
Nevada congresswoman Dina Titus responded that she would introduce legislation to "put a stop" to any move at restoring live weapons testing in her state.
And Senator Jacky Rosen, also a Democrat, said on X that Trump's statement "directly contradicts the commitments I secured from Trump nominees... who've told me explosive nuclear testing would not happen & is unnecessary."
