WASHINGTON, October 31. /TASS/. The resumption of nuclear weapons testing would constitute a strategically reckless move on the part of the administration of US President Donald Trump, US Senator Jack Reed (Democrat, Rhode Island) said.

"Breaking the explosive testing moratorium that the United States, Russia, and China have maintained since the 1990s would be strategically reckless, inevitably prompting Moscow and Beijing to resume their own testing programs. Further, American explosive testing would provide justification for Pakistan, India, and North Korea to expand their own testing regimes, destabilizing an already fragile global nonproliferation architecture at precisely the moment we can least afford it," the senator said, as quoted by his press office.

"The United States would gain very little from such testing, and we would sacrifice decades of hard-won progress in preventing nuclear proliferation," the senator stressed.

According to him, "Once again, President Trump has it wrong when it comes to nuclear weapons policy." "This time, he seems to have ordered the Pentagon to resume nuclear explosive weapons testing. This confusing directive reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of our nuclear enterprise - it is the Department of Energy, not the Department of Defense, that manages our nuclear weapons complex and any testing activities," Reed added.

Earlier, Trump stated that he had instructed the Pentagon to immediately resume nuclear weapons testing. The US president did not clarify what specific types of tests he meant, including whether this would involve the detonation of nuclear warheads.