US President Donald Trump confirmed, in an interview broadcast by CBS on Sunday, that the US will resume testing nuclear weapons, reiterating the previous statement that both Russia and China are conducting nuclear tests. However, he did not specify what their nature is, reports AFP.
Donald Trump returned to the White House in Florida on Sunday PHOTO EPA-EFE
The US president's latest remarks come just days after he called on the Pentagon to begin testing immediately. A key member of the administration clarified that the tests will not involve atomic detonations.
“Russia is testing, China is testing, but they don't talk about it. You know, we're an open society. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you're going to report on it. They don't have reporters to write about it. We do.
We will do tests because others do tests. North Korea is testing. Pakistan is testing.
You know, as powerful as (nuclear weapons) are, the world is big. You don't necessarily know where they are testing. They do underground tests, deep down, where people don't really know what's going on. You feel a little vibration. They do tests and we don't. We have to do”Trump explained.
“We have more nuclear weapons than any other country… We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times,” he pointed out.
Asked if the United States would conduct nuclear tests after more than 30 years, Trump responded: “What I am saying is that we will do nuclear tests like other countries do”.
Trump did not directly answer the question about the detonation of the nuclear charge, which the US has not done since 1992, AFP notes.
It's not about nuclear explosions
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday on Fox News that it was not about “nuclear explosions.”
“They're what we call 'non-critical explosions,' meaning we test all the other components of a nuclear weapon to make sure they make up the proper geometry and trigger the nuclear explosion. The tests we're going to be doing are on new systems, and once again, they're non-nuclear explosions.”he explained.
These tests will be conducted on new systems so that the US can make sure that the nuclear weapons that replace the previous ones are better, Wright emphasized on Fox News' “The Sunday Briefing.”
“With our science and computing power we can simulate with incredible accuracy exactly what will happen in a nuclear explosion. Wright also said, according to Reuters.
Donald Trump sparked concerns and protests around the world after he announced on Thursday that he had ordered the Pentagon to “begin testing our nuclear weapons on an equal footing” with Russia and China.
Is Donald Trump talking about testing weapons capable of carrying a nuclear warhead or even detonating a nuclear payload? notes AFP.
This shock decision intervenes in an incandescent geopolitical context, at a time when nuclear rhetoric periodically returns to the foreground in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine.
No nuclear power has officially conducted a nuclear test in three decades – with the exception of North Korea, six times between 2006 and 2017. Russia hasn't conducted one since 1990, during the USSR, and China since 1996.
On the other hand, many countries, including the US, regularly conduct tests of vectors – missiles, submarines, fighter jets or others.
Washington is a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Detonating a nuclear warhead would constitute a violation of it.
