Armageddon club: the nine countries armed with nukes

With renewed focus on nuclear arsenals, who is stockpiling what?

- James C Reynolds and Maryam Zakir-Hussain report

The United States is to resume nuclear weapons testing “immediately”, Donald Trump has announced, raising fears of renewed proliferation between the world's two biggest stockpiles of atomic weaponry.

The American president has outwardly pursued a rapprochement in US-Russian relations since returning to the White House in January, but continued provocations from Moscow have pressed Washington to change its stance.

Between them, Russia and the US maintain 87 per cent of the world's total inventory of nuclear weapons, a hangover from the arms race of the Cold War. Many are earmarked for disassembly, though remain relatively intact.

Of the 9,614 warheads believed to be in military stockpiles around the world today, around 2,100 US, Russian, British and French warheads are on high alert and ready for use on short notice, according to the US think tank the Federation of American Scientists.

The number of operational warheads has fallen significantly from the 70,000 stationed at the height of the Cold War. But renewed nuclear sabre-rattling and Russia's recent withdrawal from a nonproliferation treaty have stoked fears of a new arms race.

Nine countries currently possess nuclear weapons – informally referred to as “the nuclear club”. But nations generally refuse to confirm the exact numbers of weapons in their stockpiles for security reasons; exact figures are based on experts’ estimates and the best available information.

1. Russia