New Delhi: US President Donald Trump has revealed that Pakistan is among the countries that have been actively testing nuclear weapons, citing it as part of a broader pattern among other states that necessitates the US resuming its own nuclear tests.
In an interview with CBS News’s 60 Minutes on Sunday, Trump said several countries, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan, are conducting nuclear tests, while the US remains the only nation that does not.
“Russia’s testing and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. We’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it because otherwise you people are going to report. They don’t have reporters that are going to be writing about it,” Trump stated.
“We’re going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea’s been testing. Pakistan’s been testing,” he added.
Trump made these remarks when he was asked about his decision of “detonating nuclear weapons” after more than 30 years following Russia’s recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems, including a Poseidon underwater drone.
“You have to see how they work. The reason I’m saying testing is because Russia announced that they were going to be doing a test. If you notice, North Korea is testing constantly. Other countries are testing. We’re the only country that doesn’t test. And I don’t want to be the only country that doesn’t test,” Trump stated during the interview.
“We’re going to test nuclear weapons like other countries do,” he added.
Trump also claimed that the US possesses “more nuclear weapons than any other country,” adding that he had discussed denuclearisation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times,” Trump said. “Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit.”
Earlier on Thursday, Trump announced the immediate resumption of nuclear weapons testing, citing Russia’s recent trials of advanced nuclear-capable systems, in what marks a major escalation between the two nuclear powers.
Before boarding Air Force One, Trump said while denuclearisation would be a “tremendous thing”, restarting American nuclear testing after more than three decades was “appropriate”.
“They seem to all be nuclear testing,” Trump told reporters, referring to Russia and China.
“We have more nuclear weapons than anybody. We don’t do testing… but with others doing testing, I think it’s appropriate that we do also,” he added.
He further stated that the preparations were already in place for testing, without specifying the timing or location.
When asked whether renewed testing could make the global nuclear landscape more volatile, he responded, “I think we have it pretty well locked up.”
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law terminating the already defunct plutonium disposal agreement with the US, which had been aimed at limiting the production of nuclear weapons-grade material. The 2000 pact required both nations to dispose of 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium no longer needed for military purposes. (ANI)
