The US has after three years announced again how many nuclear weapons the country has. There were 3,750 in September last year, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The country also has 2000 nuclear warheads that have been decided to be decommissioned.
In 2010, the US first disclosed how many nuclear weapons it had over the years. The numbers were supplemented every year with the latest data. US diplomats used the publication of the figures to urge other countries to also phase out their nuclear arsenal.
Under former President Trump, it was decided in 2018 to stop publishing the data, but President Biden breaks with his predecessor’s secrecy. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that transparency is important to internationally enforce agreements from the non-proliferation treaty.
New START
Trump negotiated with Russia to renew the 2010 New START treaty, but failed to reach an agreement during his reign. Among other things, he did not reach an agreement with Russia about the number of short-range nuclear weapons, also known as tactical nuclear weapons. The New START treaty only deals with so-called strategic nuclear weapons. Trump also wanted China to join the treaty.
Under Biden, the deal was signed early this year extended for five years. In Geneva, Russia and the US also held a second round of talks on long-term nuclear weapons reduction last week.
At its peak, America had 31,255 nuclear warheads. That was in 1967. Until the fall of the Berlin Wall, it still had over 20,000 nuclear weapons. Since then, the number has steadily decreased. At the moment, the US has hardly any more tactical nuclear weapons in its arsenal, unlike Russia.
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