Trump Claims Pakistan Among Nations Testing Nuclear Weapons: US President Calls for Renewed American Testing Program

US President Donald Trump has claimed that Pakistan is among several countries actively testing nuclear weapons, justifying his recent call for America to resume its own nuclear testing program.

When questioned about his decision regarding "detonating nuclear weapons," Trump emphasized that this step was necessary as Russia, China, North Korea, and Pakistan are all conducting nuclear tests.

"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 explained during his interview with CBS News.

He further elaborated, "We're going to test because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea's been testing. Pakistan's been testing."

The Republican leader suggested that these nations conduct their tests deep underground, creating only slight vibrations that make it difficult to pinpoint exact testing locations. "They test and we don't test. We have to test," he insisted.

Trump's comments come after more than three decades without US nuclear detonation tests, 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, Trump also claimed that the United States possesses "more nuclear weapons than any other country," and mentioned having discussions about denuclearization with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

"We have enough nuclear weapons to blow up the world 150 times," Trump declared. "Russia has a lot of nuclear weapons, and China will have a lot. They have some. They have quite a bit."

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has since clarified the administration's position, stating that the testing will not involve actual nuclear explosions at this time. This provides the first clear explanation since Trump announced on social media that he had "instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis."

"I think the tests we're talking about right now are system tests. These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call non-critical explosions," Wright explained in a Fox News interview.

The Energy Secretary, whose department oversees nuclear testing, added that the planned tests involve "all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion."

Wright further specified that these tests will be conducted on new systems to ensure replacement nuclear weapons perform better than previous ones.