Pakistan is among the countries that are actively testing nuclear weapons, according to US President Donald Trump. The Republican leader’s remarks came amid buzz of the US resuming the testing of its nuclear weapons.
Trump noted the move was necessary as several nations, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan, are conducting nuclear tests, and it’s also ‘appropriate that the US also does it’.
“Russia’s testing and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. We’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it because otherwise you people are going to report. They don’t have reporters that are going to be writing about it,” Trump said while talking to CBS News.
“We’re going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” he added.
Trump claimed the US does not “necessarily know” where these “powerful” nations that are testing nuclear weapons are but asserted the testing is being done.
“They– they test way under– 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 said.
Trump made these remarks when he was asked about his decision of “detonating nuclear weapons” after more than 30 years following Russia’s recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems, including a Poseidon underwater drone.
“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 is 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,” Trump stated during the interview.
Trump also claimed that the US possesses “more nuclear weapons than any other country,” adding 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,” Trump said. “Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit.”
What Team Trump Said On Nuke Testing Plan
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has clarified that the testing will not involve nuclear explosions at this time. This was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the president took to social media last week to say he had “instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis.”
“I think the tests we’re talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions,” Wright said in an interview with Fox News.
The Energy Secretary, whose agency is responsible for testing, added that the planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”
He added that the tests will be carried out on new systems to help ensure replacement nuclear weapons are better than previous ones.