Tehran rebukes US plans for nuclear exams, citing hypocrisy over peaceable nuclear programme accusations.
Iranian International Minister Abbas Araghchi has condemned calls by United States President Donald Trump for the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing, calling the transfer each “regressive” and irresponsible”.
“Having rebranded its ‘Division of Protection’ because the ‘Division of Battle,’ a nuclear-armed bully is resuming testing of atomic weapons,” Araghchi wrote in a publish on X late Thursday.
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“The identical bully has been demonising Iran’s peaceable nuclear program and threatening additional strikes on our safeguarded nuclear services, all in blatant violation of worldwide legislation,” he stated.
Trump made the shock announcement in a Fact Social publish on Thursday shortly earlier than assembly with Chinese language President Xi Jinping in South Korea on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Financial Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Trump stated he had instructed the Pentagon to right away resume nuclear weapons testing “on an equal foundation” with different nations like Russia and China, whose nuclear weapons arsenal will match the US in “5 years”, in line with Trump.
Ankit Panda, a nuclear safety knowledgeable and senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace, instructed Al Jazeera that Trump’s determination was doubtless a response to current actions by Russia and China somewhat than Washington’s ongoing dispute with Iran over its nuclear programme.
Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced this week that Moscow had examined its Poseidon nuclear-powered tremendous torpedo, after individually testing new Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missiles earlier within the month, in line with the Reuters information company.
China additionally lately displayed its nuclear prowess at a navy parade in September, which featured new and modified nuclear weapons programs just like the Dongfeng-5 nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile.
Having rebranded its “Division of Protection” because the “Division of Battle”, a nuclear-armed bully is resuming testing of atomic weapons. The identical bully has been demonizing Iran’s peaceable nuclear program and threatening additional strikes on our safeguarded nuclear services, all in… pic.twitter.com/ft4ZGWnFiw
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) October 30, 2025
Regardless of these public shows of firepower, neither Russia nor China has carried out a nuclear check – outlined as a nuclear explosion above floor, underground, or underwater – in a long time, in line with the United Nations.
Nuclear testing is banned by the Complete Nuclear Check-Ban-Treaty of 1996. The US, China, and Iran all signed however haven’t ratified the unique treaty, whereas Russia withdrew its ratification in 2023.
Moscow carried out its final nuclear check in 1990 whereas nonetheless the Soviet Union, and China carried out its final nuclear check in 1996, in line with the UN. The final nuclear check by the UK was in 1991, adopted by the US in 1992 and France in 1996. North Korea is the one nation that has carried out nuclear exams up to now twenty years, with its final check in 2017.
Trevor Findlay, a nuclear safety knowledgeable and honorary skilled fellow on the College of Melbourne, instructed Al Jazeera that it was unclear what sort of testing Trump was referring to in his publish.
“My assumption is that he means missile launches of nuclear-capable missiles, as North Korea and Russia have been doing very publicly. These don’t carry an precise nuclear warhead [but likely a dummy], nor do they create a nuclear explosion,” he stated.
“The US already exams its personal missiles periodically, each current ones and ones in improvement, usually splashing down within the Pacific. It does announce them however tends to not make a giant deal of it, like North Korea and Russia,” he stated.
Trump, in the meantime, has known as for the “whole dismantlement” of Iran’s nuclear programme and says he doesn’t need Tehran to acquire a nuclear weapon. In June, the US and Israel additionally carried out air strikes on Iranian navy and nuclear services partially to gradual its progress.
Tehran has maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian functions solely, and it has by no means carried out a nuclear check, in line with the Carnegie Endowment’s Panda.
“Iran has by no means executed any nuclear exams. They’ve always been saying they don’t seem to be aspiring to make a nuclear bomb,” Panda instructed Al Jazeera. “The one factor that Iran has which could be taken significantly is a few extremely enriched uranium. That’s it. They haven’t even examined a nuclear ballistic missile.”
