Trump Gives Directive To Begin US Nuclear Weapons Testing

US President Donald Trump’s surprise directive to begin nuclear weapons testing provoked global criticism on Friday, as it raised the specter of renewed superpower tensions.

The announcement on social media was issued just before Trump — who frequently boasts of being a peace president — was to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at a summit in South Korea.

Trump’s announcement left much unanswered — chiefly whether he meant testing weapons systems or actually conducting test explosions, something the United States has not done since 1992.

Key US foe Iran on Friday called the directive “regressive and irresponsible”, adding that it was a threat to international security.

“A nuclear-armed bully is resuming testing of atomic weapons. The same bully has been demonizing Iran’s peaceful nuclear program,” foreign minister Abbas Araghchi posted on social media.

Japanese atomic bomb survivors group Nihon Hidankyo sent a letter of protest to the US embassy in Japan on Friday.

The directive “directly contradicts the efforts by nations around the world striving for a peaceful world without nuclear weapons and is utterly unacceptable,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group said in the letter obtained by AFP.

– Global nuclear testing ban –

Following Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, China’s foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to “earnestly abide” by a global nuclear testing ban.

China and the United States observe a de facto moratorium on testing nuclear warheads, though Russia and the United States regularly run military drills involving nuclear-capable systems.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said through his deputy spokesman that “nuclear testing can never be permitted under any circumstances.”

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

Vice President JD Vance said the US nuclear arsenal needed to be tested to ensure it actually “functions properly,” but did not elaborate on what type of tests Trump had ordered.

The president’s statement “speaks for itself,” Vance told reporters at the White House.