US plans to resume nuclear testing are “regressive and irresponsible”, Iran said late on Thursday after a surprise directive by US President Donald Trump.
“A nuclear-armed bully is resuming testing of atomic weapons. The same bully has been demonising Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media.
Mr Trump on Thursday said the US would begin testing nuclear weapons on "an equal basis" as China and Russia. He made the announcement shortly before meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit.
"The [US] announcement of a resumption of nuclear tests is a regressive and irresponsible move and a serious threat to international peace and security," Mr Araghchi added.
US Vice President JD Vance said America's nuclear arsenal needs to be tested to ensure it actually "functions properly," but did not elaborate on what type of tests Mr Trump had ordered. The President's statement "speaks for itself," Mr Vance told reporters at the White House.
"It's an important part of American national security to make sure that this nuclear arsenal we have actually functions properly, and that's part of a testing regime," he said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that "nuclear testing can never be permitted under any circumstances".
The US 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.
Mr Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that it had been "many years" since the US had conducted nuclear tests, but it was "appropriate" to start again.
With the exception of North Korea, no country has conducted an explosive nuclear weapons test in more than a quarter century. Russia last tested a bomb in 1990, the US in 1992 and China in 1996.
Iran has been subjected to criticism and sanctions over its nuclear aspirations. The nuclear plants at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow were hit by US strikes in June during the two-week Israel-Iran air war.
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