The US State Department on Tuesday announced the number of nuclear weapons for the first time in four years, after former president Donald Trump installed electricity on the data.
As of September 30, 2020, the U.S. military has maintained 3,750 active and non-active nuclear wars, down 55 from the previous year and 72 from the same day in 2017.
This figure has also been at an all-time low since the US nuclear holocaust reached the Cold War with Russia in 1967, with a total of 31,255 wars.
The numbers were released on Tuesday amid attempts by President Joe Biden’s administration to resume arms control talks with Russia after a suspension from Trump.
“Increasing the transparency of nuclear stockpiles is crucial in efforts to protect and combat weapons,” the State Department said in a statement.
Trump, who pulled the United States into Iran’s nuclear deal and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) agreement with Russia, also left another important agreement, the First New Covenant in the rocks last year before its scheduled end on February 5.
New Start eliminates the number of nuclear warheads owned by Washington and Moscow, and allowing it to expire would create a setback for the reduction of heads in both directions.
Trump has said he wants a new agreement that includes China, which has only a fraction of the wars America and Russia have.
Biden, who took office on January 20, immediately proposed a five-year extension to New Start, which Russian President Vladimir Putin readily agreed to.
The agreement brings to 1,550 the number of nuclear heads that could be used by Moscow and Washington.
Last week Russian and American strategists held secret talks in Geneva to begin talks on a successor to New Start and to control common weapons.
The U.S. official has called the talks “fruitful,” but both sides say the fact that the talks are being held is good.
According to a January 2021 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which includes retired wars – not included in State Department numbers – the United States had 5,550 wars, compared with 6,255 in Russia, 350 in China, 225 in Britain, and -290 are in France.
India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea combined in about 460 nuclear warfare, according to the institute.