US President Donald Trump has vowed that he will ensure that the United States maintains its dominance among the world's nuclear powers.
The businessman-turned politician made his first comments on the sensitive issue since taking office in a Reuters interview Thursday.
Trump had said in a December tweet that the US should "greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability". He later told MSNBC: "Let it be an arms race".
"It would be wonderful, a dream would be that no country would have nukes, but if countries are going to have nukes, we're going to be at the top of the pack". He added that he is the first one that would like to see?nobody have nukes, "but we're never going to fall behind any country even if it's a friendly country."
The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), signed by the United States and Russia in 2011 and ratified in 2012, calls for limiting nuclear warheads held by both the countries to 1,550 and delivery vehicles - ballistic missiles and heavy bombers - to 700 within seven years.
It is estimated that the United States possesses 6,800 warheads, and Russia has 7,000, which is said to be far more than needed to deter nuclear attack by the other or by another nuclear-armed country.
But the United States has fallen behind in its nuclear weapons capacity, according to Trump, who thinks the New START treaty is "one-sided."
Trump's pro-nuclear stance evoked criticism by the independent Arms Control Association.
Trump's comments suggest, once again, that he is ill-informed about nuclear weapons and has a poor understanding of the unique dangers of nuclear weapons, the non-profit advocacy group said in a statement.
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