President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he had directed the Pentagon to begin testing nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China, triggering uncertainty over the decades-old U.S. moratorium on such tests.

Few people know the harm nuclear testing can do better than inhabitants of the Marshall Islands which was a US-administered trust territory of the United Nations from 1947 to 1986.

Trump’s command risks a global arms race while the Doomsday clock ticks closer than ever to midnight, experts say

The U.S. conducts several intercontinental ballistic missile test launches each year to maintain its nuclear deterrent.

The United States hasn't carried out a nuclear explosion test since 1992, following a self-imposed ban on such activities.

The missile, which is claimed to possess extreme endurance and may pose a significant radiological hazard, is said to have made its first long-range test flight.