(MENAFN) US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed his plan to resume nuclear testing following the recent launch of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile by Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin had previously warned that any breach of the nuclear test moratorium by the US would provoke “appropriate retaliatory measures.”

Last week, Trump directed the US Department of War to prepare for nuclear tests “immediately.” On Wednesday, the US Air Force reported the successful test-firing of an unarmed Minuteman III missile from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

“Because of other countries’ testing programs, I have instructed the Department of War to start testing our nuclear weapons on an equal basis. That process will begin immediately,” Trump stated in a video posted on social media later in the day.

The video, which appeared to be AI-generated, repeated verbatim the text from Trump’s post last week, including the familiar sign-off: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”


It remains uncertain whether the message was directly posted by the president or by his team, as the White House did not comment, citing staff shortages caused by the ongoing government shutdown. Multiple clips released around the same time shared the same background and recycled unrelated prior statements.

Earlier in the day, Russian Defense Minister Andrey Belousov declared that Moscow “must respond to Washington’s steps” and “start preparing for full-scale nuclear tests immediately.” However, Putin suggested that such a move would be premature as long as the US observes the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

Meanwhile, the Russian president instructed all relevant government agencies to review US plans and provide proposals regarding “the possible commencement of work on preparing for nuclear weapons tests,” according to reports.

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