Overview
- President Donald Trump said he directed the Pentagon to restart explosive nuclear weapons testing immediately, making the announcement around his meeting with Xi Jinping in South Korea.
- Following their talks, Trump said testing sites will be chosen later, while China urged the United States to honor the testing moratorium and protect the disarmament regime.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s recent trials of a cruise missile and a nuclear‑powered maritime drone were not nuclear explosion tests and warned Moscow would act if the moratorium is abandoned.
- China’s Communist Party approved a 2026–2030 plan that explicitly links strategic deterrence to expanding its nuclear forces, with SIPRI estimating about 600 warheads and the U.S. Defense Department projecting roughly 1,000 by 2030.
- Independent tallies indicate nine countries hold about 12,240 nuclear warheads, most concentrated in Russia and the United States, providing the backdrop to the latest strategic signaling.