Donald Trump has instructed the US Department of Defense to begin testing nuclear weapons at a level equal to China and Russia.
In a Wednesday post to Truth Social, Trump said that, “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.”
The post came less than an hour before Trump is set to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday morning in an effort to come to a trade war truce.
Trump’s missive on Wednesday night also arrived on the heels of him describing Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a nuclear-powered cruise missile test as “not appropriate”. Trump made those comments after Putin said that Russia had successfully tested its “unique” nuclear-capable Burevestnik cruise missile, which the Kremlin described as part of efforts to “ensure the country’s national security”.
Earlier in his post on Wednesday, Trump also falsely noted that the US has more nuclear weapons than any other country. Russia currently has the most confirmed nuclear weapons, with over 5,500 nuclear warheads while the US has 5,044 nuclear weapons, per the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The last nuclear test by the US, codenamed “Divider,” was carried out on 23 September 1992 at what is now called the Nevada National Security Site. Then-president George HW Bush announced a moratorium on underground nuclear testing that same year.
More details soon …
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