White House issues nuclear weapons update

The United States may have to expand its nuclear weapons arsenal in response to the growth of its nuclear programs by Russia, China and North Korea “at a breakneck pace”, according to a stark warning from a top US office. the White House.

Pranay Vaddi, special assistant to the president and senior director for arms control at the White House, made the remarks during a speech Friday to the Arms Control Association.

Vaddi's comments come amid growing tensions between the United States, Russia and China, raising fears of all-out war. In May, Russia conducted tactical nuclear weapons exercises “in response to provocative statements and threats by some Western officials.”

Russian state television hosts and guests have repeatedly threatened nuclear strikes against Western powers, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

Vaddi commented: “Without changes in adversary arsenals, we may reach a point in the coming years where an increase in numbers currently deployed will be necessary. We must be fully prepared to execute if the president makes that decision.

“If that day comes, it will result in a determination that more nuclear weapons are needed to deter our adversaries and protect the American people and our allies and partners.”

During his speech, Vaddi warned that China, Russia and North Korea are “all expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace, showing little or no interest in arms control.”

He also claimed that the three powers, as well as Iran, are “increasingly cooperating and coordinating in ways that run counter to peace and stability, threaten the United States, our allies and our partners and exacerbates regional tensions”, in particular by sharing missiles and missiles. drone technology.

According to Statista figures from January 2023, Russia had the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with 5,889 warheads, followed by the United States with 5,244. China had 410 nuclear warheads, but it is rapidly expanding its arsenal, while that American allies France and the United Kingdom had 290 and 225 nuclear warheads respectively.

According to Reuters, the United States has not exceeded the limit of 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads set in the 2010 New START treaty with Moscow, although Russia suspended its participation in 2023 as tensions rose after its attempt of total invasion of Ukraine in February. 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that he could deploy conventional missiles within range of Western powers after several of them gave Ukraine permission to strike Russian military targets on its own for the first time. ground with their weapons.

Two days later, on June 7, Putin was asked whether Russia should hold a “nuclear gun to the head” of the West at the International Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, but he replied that this would not be the case. was not necessary at the moment.

Regarding nuclear weapons, he commented: “Their use is possible in an exceptional case, in the event of a threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country. I don't think such a case happened. There is no such need. “.

In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday morning, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, said nuclear war poses a greater threat to the United States than climate change.

He commented: “I don't want to see this country go into a nuclear war and be so badly damaged. What we say won't matter, this place won't matter, nothing will matter because there will be virtually nothing here. more. The power level of the weapons, these are real weapons, it is worse than the weapons we were talking about recently.

“It's an obliteration, maybe a global obliteration, and we have a man incapable of discussing it. The only global warming I care about is nuclear global warming. Because it's the real deal.”