Overview
- Trump said the process would begin immediately but offered no details on the type, timing, or location of tests, noting only that the U.S. has test sites.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon would work with the Energy Department, which oversees any explosive nuclear testing through the NNSA, but provided no specifics.
- Vice Adm. Richard Correll, the nominee to lead U.S. Strategic Command, said he does not know what the president meant, and experts note the United States has not conducted an explosive test since 1992 and would likely need years to prepare.
- The United Nations warned nuclear testing is never permissible; the Kremlin said Russia would respond if the moratorium is broken and insisted its recent Burevestnik and Poseidon trials were not nuclear explosions, while China urged adherence to test‑ban norms.
- Arms‑control analysts cautioned that resuming explosive tests could spur an arms race with little technical benefit to the U.S., and data from SIPRI indicate Russia holds slightly more warheads than the United States despite the president's claim.