Overview
- Pressed on whether tests will include underground detonations, President Trump declined to specify and said the public would know "very soon."
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance defended resuming tests as necessary to maintain a credible deterrent.
- The United Nations, China, Iran, and Japan’s hibakusha organization condemned the order, with UN officials urging that no nuclear tests be conducted under any circumstances.
- The United States has not conducted an explosive nuclear test since 1992 and remains a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which it never ratified.
- Trump’s claim that the U.S. has the largest nuclear arsenal conflicts with SIPRI estimates showing Russia with about 4,309 warheads versus 3,700 for the United States, figures cited as debate flares over Russian tests of nuclear-capable delivery systems.