Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association (ACA), has warned that renewed U.S. nuclear testing could “blow apart the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT).”
Trump Orders Immediate Resumption of Nuclear Testing
On October 30, former U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to restart nuclear weapons testing after a 33-year halt. “Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis,” Trump wrote on Truth Social while traveling to Busan, South Korea.
Global Alarm Over Potential Chain Reaction
Kimball told the Tehran Times that any U.S. move to resume testing would provoke strong global opposition and possibly trigger a “dangerous chain reaction” of nuclear testing by Russia, North Korea, India, and others. He said such escalation would undermine decades of arms control progress and could “destroy the NPT framework.”
No Justification for Resuming Tests
Kimball emphasized that the United States has no “technical, military, or political reason” to resume nuclear explosive testing. He noted that since 1992, Washington has maintained a moratorium under bipartisan support. President Bill Clinton extended it in 1993 and later became the first to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996.
CTBT as a Safeguard for Global Security
Kimball said the CTBT and the global norm against testing have made the world safer. He urged all nuclear-armed states, including the U.S., China, and Russia, to respect the moratorium and ratify the CTBT to bring it into full legal force.
