“I really had no choice,” said President Donald Trump, adding that Russia and China are conducting their own tests.
By Catholics for Catholics
In a move reminiscent of the Cold War, the United States will increase nuclear weapons testing with the aim of being on an “equal basis” with the agendas of other countries, said President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” the president said in a Truth Social post. “This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term. Because of other countries [sic] testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.”
According to The Daily Wire, in another video message Trump posted, “Because of the tremendous destructive power, I hated to do it, having to do with nuclear weapons, but I really had no choice. Russia is second in line, and China is a distant third, but will be even within five years.”
Trump’s moves apparently are an escalation of previous indications he has said recently about testing nuclear weapons and research on the matter. The reason? Russia and China’s intensification of their own programs according to U.S. intelligence, he said.
“Russia’s testing nuclear weapons,” Trump said during an interview with “60 Minutes” that aired over the weekend. “And China’s testing them too. You just don’t know about it.”
.@POTUS: "They seem to all be nuclear testing. We have more nuclear weapons than anybody, we don't do testing… with others doing testing, I think it's appropriate that we do also." https://t.co/KRvPrFLh6i pic.twitter.com/kvPJd1r3qQ
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 30, 2025
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talked about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report,” the president said. “We’re going to test, because they test and others test.” Trump added in the interview that North Korea and Pakistan have also been testing nuclear weapons.
And like during the Cold War era, Russia countered with a quick response to Trump’s comments. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Russia’s Security Council and said that while Russia has stood by the international Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, he would explore testing.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, said in a post on X, “No one knows what Trump meant about ‘nuclear testing’ (he probably doesn’t himself). But he’s the president of the United States. And the consequences of such words are inescapable: Russia will be forced to assess the expediency of conducting full-fledged nuclear tests itself.”
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