'Will not be the first to resume nuclear tests': Pakistan responds to Trump's nuclear test claims
&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Will not be the first to resume nuclear tests': Pakistan responds to Trump's nuclear test claims")
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) speaks as US President Donald Trump listens during the Gaza summit in Sharm El-Sheikh on October 13, 2025. Trump landed in Egypt on October 13 for a summit on Gaza, following a lightning visit to Israel after a ceasefire he brokered entered into force. Photograph: (AFP)
Pakistan officials have downplayed claims of their ally, Donald Trump, that South Asian countries, including Pakistan, are actively testing Nuclear weapons.
A senior Pakistani official has rejected Donald Trump's claim that South Asian countries are actively testing nuclear weapons. In an interview with CBS News, he said that his country was “not the first to carry out nuclear tests and will not be the first to do it again”.
US President Donald Trump, during his interview with Norah O'Donnell for 60 Minutes, alleged that Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan are secretly testing nuclear weapons. When pressed about whether he is conflating nuclear weapons with tests of nuclear missiles. He asserted that they test underground, and people usually do not find out the ordeal, just feel the vibrations. He announced that the US will also carry out its nuclear tests. “We're gonna test, because they test and others test. And certainly North Korea's been testing. Pakistan's been testing.”
Trump has recently ordered the Pentagon to “immediately” start “testing our nuclear weapons”. The statement is contradictory because only a few days back, US presidential nominee for STRATCOM, the U.S. military command in charge of nuclear weapons, assured the lawmakers at Capitol Hill that China and Russia are not conducting nuclear tests.
The United States has been a signatory to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) since 1996. Apart from North Korea, no other nations have detonated Nuclear weapons since the 1990s. China detonated its last nuclear weapon in 1992, and Pakistan in 1998. Since 1998, Pakistan said it had observed "unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing."
The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday dismissed Mr Trump's claim, asserting that China is committed to “peaceful development” and follows a policy of “no first use”. Pakistan also asserts on its website that it despite being a non-signatory state, Pakistan has been supporting the objectives and purposes of the Treaty.
The US energy Secretary Chris Wright, while talking to Fox New,s downplayed Trump's statements, saying that these are most likely "system tests", not “nuclear explosions”.
