The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) 1996, which prohibited “any nuclear weapon test explosion or any other nuclear explosion” was signed by 187 countries, including Russia, China and the United States. All countries in the world, even non-signatories, abide by the terms of the treaty, and there have been no nuclear tests, except by North Korea, in the 21st century ~ despite the US and China not ratifying the agreement, Russia rescinding its ratification in 2023, and India and Pakistan not signing the agreement at all.

Therefore, US President Donald Trump’s post on Truth Social, on 30 October 2025, just before his meeting with Chinese President Xi Ping, that, ‘because of other countries testing programs’, he had instructed the US Department of War to ‘start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis … immediately,’ set the cat among the pigeons. That Trump was himself confused could not be denied; Trump addressed his order to the Pentagon rather than the Energy Department, which administers nuclear tests. Trump’s allegations about countries (China, Russia and Pakistan), conducting nuclear tests on the sly, are not independently verifiable, with seismic monitoring not recording any large nuclear weapons tests since 1996.

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Notably, all three countries, China, Russia and Pakistan, have denied testing nuclear devices in violation of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. However, Trump’s fulminations have drawn a sharp response from the countries named by him. In a televised appearance Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had instructed the Foreign and Defence ministries to bring proposals “on the possible start of work on the preparation of nuclear weapons tests.” Similar threats have not emanated from China and Pakistan, but both may follow Russia ~ if Trump carries out his threat of testing nuclear weapons. Contrary to perception, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty does not entirely prohibit testing of nuclear devices.

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The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty expressly prohibits only supercritical tests ~ which involve a limited amount of nuclear material but produce a chain reaction – and full nuclear explosion tests. But the treaty does allow a nuclear-armed country to........

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