‘Pakistan is testing nukes’: Trump justifies US resuming nuclear testing
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Washington: US President Donald Trump has claimed that several countries, including Pakistan, are conducting nuclear weapons tests, adding that the United States will also resume testing after more than three decades.
In an interview with CBS News, Trump said the move was necessary since other nations, such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan, were already testing nuclear weapons.
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We talk about it because otherwise you people are gonna report — they don’t have reporters that are gonna be writing about it. We do. No, we’re gonna test, because they test and others test. And certainly, North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” NDTV quoted Trump as saying.
Responding to a question on whether the US plans to start detonating nuclear weapons after more than 30 years, Trump said the country does not “necessarily know” where these nations are testing but maintained that such tests are happening.
“They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test. You feel a little bit of a vibration. They test, and we don’t test. We have to test,” he added.
Trump also asserted that the US possesses more nuclear weapons than any other country and revealed that he had discussed denuclearisation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times. Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some, quite a bit,” Trump said, emphasising the need for testing to ensure functionality.
“You have to see how they work. The reason I’m saying testing is because Russia announced that they were going to be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea’s testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We’re the only country that doesn’t test, and I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” he stated.
Last week, Trump declared that the US would begin testing nuclear weapons “immediately,” ending 33 years of self-imposed restraint.
Ahead of his meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, Trump posted on Truth Social: “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.”
He said the United States had more nuclear weapons than any other nation due to “a complete update and renovation of existing weapons” during his first term, which was achieved without physical testing — something scientists say is no longer necessary due to advanced computer simulations.
Trump added that he had “no choice” but to expand the nuclear arsenal despite his aversion to it. “Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years,” he wrote.
However, elements of his statement remain unclear. Trump justified the renewed testing by citing “other countries’ testing programmes,” although only North Korea has conducted a nuclear test in recent years — its last in 2017.
India and Pakistan last carried out nuclear tests in 1998, and no other nations have conducted such tests since then.
With IANS inputs