Overview
- Trump posted the instruction on Truth Social minutes before meeting China’s Xi Jinping in South Korea, signaling a break with the U.S. testing moratorium in place since 1992.
- Neither the Pentagon nor the Department of Energy offered immediate operational details, and the National Nuclear Security Administration’s leader previously advised against resuming tests.
- Arms-control experts say restarting contained underground detonations at the Nevada site would likely take years and could face significant domestic and international pushback.
- The move was framed as a response to Russia’s recent claims of testing nuclear-capable systems such as the Poseidon torpedo and Burevestnik missile and to rapid growth in China’s arsenal.
- Trump’s assertion that the U.S. has more nuclear weapons than any other country is disputed by open-source counts that show Russia with a larger confirmed stockpile.