Trump orders US to begin nuclear weapons testing

US president says it is 'appropriate' to start testing again because others are doing so

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US President Donald Trump said yesterday that he has ordered the Pentagon to start nuclear weapons testing to equal China and Russia, just minutes before opening a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The move comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow had successfully tested a nuclear-capable, nuclear-powered underwater drone, in defiance of Washington's warnings.

“Because of other countries testing programmes, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis,” Trump wrote on social media.

Type of test unclear

The United States has been a signatory since 1996 to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all atomic test blasts, whether for military or civilian purposes.

It was not clear if Trump was referring to testing nuclear warheads, which the United States last did in 1992, or testing weapons systems capable of carrying atomic warheads.