Donald Trump's administration has brought together military officials and scientists at the White House with the aim of evaluating a resumption of nuclear weapons tests.
In mid-May, the administration led by Donald Trump decided to organise a meeting at the White House, attended by military experts and scientists. The meeting, according to the Washington Post, was reportedly called with a precise and unsettling objective: to establish a plan to allow the US military to resume nuclear weapons tests.
The Washington government's decision would have stemmed from a desire to "respond" to alleged similar tests (at low yield) conducted by Russia and China at the end of 2019. Both the Moscow and Beijing administrations, however, have strongly denied having carried out such tests.
The American newspaper cites in particular an anonymous source within the Trump administration with knowledge of the matter, according to whom the US objective would be to exert pressure so that the nuclear powers reach a trilateral agreement on armaments.
What is clear is that if the United States were to reopen the door to nuclear weapons tests, it would represent an epochal turning point. The last detonation of an American warhead dates back to 1992. In total, from the post-war period to that date, more than one thousand tests were conducted: approximately half of all those carried out worldwide. The Soviet Union and later Russia conducted 715, and France 210.
Then, in 1996, the five nations that officially possess nuclear weapons signed a treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which aimed to put an end to all testing. The American Parliament never ratified the document, although a moratorium was effectively adopted. Furthermore, the text was signed by the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France and China, namely the nations that have declared possession of nuclear warheads. It is known, however, that others too (India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea) possess or are developing nuclear weapons.
