San Francisco Frontiers - Trump keeps world guessing with shock nuclear test order

Asked by an AFP journalist whether he meant conducting underground blasts for the first time in the United States since 1992, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: "I am not going to say."

"You'll find out very soon, but we're going to do some testing, yeah. Other countries do it. If they're going to do it, we're going do it," he said on his way to spend Halloween at his golf resort in Florida.

No country other than North Korea has conducted an explosive nuclear weapon test for decades. Russia and China have not carried out such tests since 1990 and 1996 respectively.

The 79-year-old Republican first made his surprise testing announcement by social media post on Thursday, minutes before entering a summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea.

The announcement came in the wake of Russia saying it had tested a new nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, and a nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable underwater drone.

Iran, whose own controversial nuclear program was bombed by US forces on Trump's orders earlier this year, called Trump's directive "regressive and irresponsible."

"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.

- 'Pretty responsible' -

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

The order "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.

Amid concern abroad and some in the US Congress, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Pentagon was moving "quickly" to follow Trump's orders and said testing was "responsible."

"The president was clear. We need to have a credible nuclear deterrent," he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

"Resuming testing is a pretty responsible, very responsible way to do that. I think it makes nuclear conflict less likely."

But China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun urged the United States to "earnestly abide" by a global nuclear testing ban.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres said through a 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.

- Russia pushes back -

Russia pushed back against any idea that its recent weapon systems tests could justify a return to live test explosions.

The Kremlin questioned whether Trump was well-informed -- and implied Russia would conduct its own live detonations if Trump does so first.

The recent weapons drills "cannot in any way be interpreted as a nuclear test," spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "We hope that the information was conveyed correctly to President Trump."

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the Russian stockpile of deployed and stored warheads is 4,309, compared to 3,700 for the United States and 600 for China -- figures that don't take into account hundreds of other warheads scheduled for dismantling.

The United States conducted 1,054 nuclear tests between July 16, 1945, when the first was conducted in New Mexico, and 1992.

Its two nuclear attacks on Japan during World War II make it the only country to have used the weapons in combat.

The last US nuclear test explosion was in September 1992, a 20-kiloton underground detonation at the Nevada Nuclear Security Site.

Then-president George H.W. Bush imposed a moratorium on further tests in October 1992 that has been continued by successive administrations.

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Z.Sanchez--SFF