Donald Trump says Pakistan among nations testing nuclear weapons, defends US plan to resume tests
US President says: “We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times... Russia has a lot, and China has quite a few too.”
PTC Web Desk: US President Donald Trump has claimed that Pakistan is among the countries currently testing nuclear weapons. His remarks came as reports suggested the United States may soon restart its own nuclear testing programme after more than 30 years.
In an interview with CBS News, Donald Trump said many nations, including Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan, are conducting nuclear tests. He argued that it would be “appropriate” for the US to do the same.
“Russia’s testing and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. We’re an open society. We have to talk about it because our media reports everything. They don’t have reporters like we do,” Trump said.
He further added, “We’re going to test because they test and others test. Certainly, North Korea and Pakistan have been testing too.”
Donald Trump claimed that the US does not always know where these “powerful” countries conduct their nuclear tests because they are done deep underground. “You feel a little vibration, but people don’t know exactly what’s happening,” he said. “They test, and we don’t. We have to test,” he added.
When asked about his decision to restart nuclear testing after decades, Trump said it was important for the US to keep up with other nations. “Russia announced that they were going to test. North Korea is testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We’re the only country that doesn’t test — and I don’t want to be that country,” he stated.
Trump also claimed that the United States has “more nuclear weapons than any other country,” saying he had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping about denuclearisation. “We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times,” Trump said. “Russia has a lot, and China has quite a few too.”
Clarification from Trump administration
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright later clarified that the proposed testing will not include actual nuclear explosions. Speaking to Fox News, he said, “The tests we’re talking about right now are system tests, not nuclear explosions. These are non-critical tests.”
Wright explained that the goal of these tests is to check all the other parts of a nuclear weapon, such as delivery systems and internal design, to ensure they work correctly. He added that the testing will help develop better and safer nuclear weapons in the future.