US President Donald Trump called for the resumption of nuclear weapons testing, threatening an intensification of a global arms race.
Trump said that Russia and China were catching up on US nuclear domination: Beijing has doubled its arsenal in five years, and Moscow recently announced tests of nuclear-powered cruise missiles and torpedoes with effectively infinite range. None of them have officially tested warheads since the 1990s, but the relevant treaties have largely lapsed, and Russia is believed to have carried out secret tests.
The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty from 1996 was never fully ratified, and Moscow suspended participation in the bilateral US-Russia New START deal in 2023, which will expire in February.
