U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent claims that several countries including Pakistan, China, Russia, and North Korea are secretly conducting underground nuclear weapons tests have sparked a significant diplomatic backlash and reignited international concerns about a new arms race. Trump’s statements during a “60 Minutes” interview, where he insisted that these nations “test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening,” were quickly denied by the accused parties, deepening tensions on the global stage.
Trump argued that the United States must resume nuclear testing after a 33-year hiatus in response to these secret tests. His assertion, however, prompted immediate contradiction from within his own administration. Energy Secretary Chris Wright clarified that planned U.S. tests would not be nuclear explosions but rather “noncritical explosions” to evaluate nuclear weapon components, revealing discord between the President’s rhetoric and official policy. This discrepancy highlights a worrying gap in communication within the U.S. government on nuclear weapons strategy.
International reaction was swift and pointed. China’s Foreign Ministry categorically denied any clandestine nuclear tests, reiterating its commitment to the moratorium on nuclear testing and urging the U.S. to support global disarmament efforts. Pakistan’s foreign ministry echoed similar sentiments, vowing not to be the first to resume such testing in South Asia. Russia warned of potential responses should the U.S. break the testing moratorium, though it denied conducting nuclear explosive tests recently.
On the U.S. side, intelligence leaders like CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Senator Tom Cotton aligned with Trump’s claims, suggesting that Russia and China may have conducted “super-critical” nuclear tests exceeding U.S. standards. Experts caution that reviving nuclear testing could disproportionately benefit China, which has far fewer tests than the U.S. but superior computational abilities to exploit test data, potentially widening the strategic gap.
Nuclear scholars warn that the resumption of such tests marks a dangerous pivot away from decades of restraint that helped prevent nuclear escalation. The risk of a renewed arms race—a “domino effect” among nuclear powers—could destabilize global security, particularly given the volatile geopolitical hotspots involving nuclear-armed states such as Ukraine, South Asia, Korea, and the Taiwan Strait.
This controversy underscores the precarious state of international arms control agreements, with pivotal treaties nearing expiration and global tensions intensifying. As nations navigate this complex landscape, diplomatic efforts to uphold moratoria and prevent proliferation are more crucial than ever.
