Authored by Joseph Lord via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
The United States will begin conducting nuclear weapons testing again after decades of rejecting the practice, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday.
“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “That process will begin immediately.”
Nuclear tests in the atmosphere, space, or underwater have been banned since the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty, which permitted continued underground nuclear testing for several decades.
The United States last conducted a nuclear weapons test underground in September 1992.
That year, President George H.W. Bush announced that the United States would undertake a unilateral moratorium on all nuclear weapons testing, including those conducted underground.
Trump tied the decision to resume nuclear testing to his first administration’s efforts to keep the United States’ nuclear arsenal on par with those of Russia and China.
“The United States has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my First Term in office. Because of the tremendous destructive power, I HATED to do it, but had no choice! Russia is second, and China is a distant third, but will be even within 5 years,” Trump wrote.
It’s unclear from his Truth Social post whether the resumed tests would be conducted underground, underwater, in the atmosphere, or in space.
This is a breaking story and will be updated with additional details.
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