Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Trying to justify his recent orders on US resuming nuclear tests, and in an apparent attempt to pressurize India, US President Donald Trump has now claimed that Pakistan is also conducting nuclear test.
“Pakistan, China, Russia, and North Korea are conducting nuclear tests. So, the US also needs to,” he was quoted as saying in media reports on Monday.
Pakistan is among the countries that are actively testing nuclear weapons, he said amid buzz of the US resuming the testing of its nuclear weapons after over three decades.
He noted that the move was necessary as several nations are conducting nuclear tests, and it’s also ‘appropriate that the US also does it.’
“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 told CBS News.
“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 claimed the US does not “necessarily know” where these “powerful” nations are testing nuclear weapons but asserted the testing is being done.
“They test way underground where people don’t know exactly what’s happening with the test. You feel a little bit of a vibration. They test and we don’t test. We have to test,” he said.
Interestingly, global monitoring stations detect such ground vibrations, which are earthquake-like waves, caused by underground nuclear explosions. However, Trump claimed such tests can be conducted covertly, making them undetectable.
He made these remarks when 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 said 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.”
Meanwhile, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright clarified that the testing will not involve nuclear explosions at this time. This was the first clarity from the Trump administration since the President wrote on social media last week 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 told Fox News.
The planned testing involves “all the other parts of a nuclear weapon to make sure they deliver the appropriate geometry and they set up the nuclear explosion.”
The tests will be carried out on new systems to help ensure replacement nuclear weapons are better than previous ones, he added.
Trump’s remarks came as he justified his order to American forces to test nuclear weapons after a 33-year moratorium. His revelation could be concerning for India as it faces Pakistan and China on two fronts—and also for China which is now wary of the US’s rediscovered ‘friend’: Pakistan.
Trump even reiterated his often-repeated claim that India and Pakistan were in May 2025 on the verge of a ‘nuclear war,’ which he prevented with trade and tariffs—something India rejected multiple times. He said millions would have been killed if he hadn’t stepped in.
“India was going to have a nuclear war with Pakistan. The Prime Minister of Pakistan stood up… If Donald Trump didn’t get involved, many millions of people would have been dead. It was a bad war. Aeroplanes were shot down all over the place. I told both of them, if you guys don’t stop you will not do any business with the US.”
If China and Pakistan are indeed testing nuclear weapons, it makes the situation more volatile for India, which not only follows a no-first-use policy but also hasn’t conducted any nuclear tests since 1998.
India’s nuclear arsenal, estimated at 180 warheads as of 2025, lags behind China’s burgeoning stockpile of 600 (projected to hit 1,000 by 2030) and mirrors Pakistan’s 170.
While Pakistan’s fissile material could fuel up to 200 warheads by 2028, including tactical nukes, it’s China’s advancements—like the Fractional Orbital Bombardment System (FOBS) tested in 2021—that pose the gravest threat.
FOBS deploys warheads into partial Earth orbits, evading predictable trajectories and India’s nascent Prithvi Defence Vehicle (PDV) interceptors.