Legal Framework

International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (1996)

The ICJ's landmark 1996 advisory opinion on the legality of nuclear weapons, finding their use generally contrary to humanitarian law while leaving open the question of legality in extreme self-defense where state survival is at stake.

Related incidents

2 incidents

New START Treaty Expires: First Time Since 1970s With No Nuclear Arms Control

The expiration of the last US-Russia nuclear arms control treaty ends over five decades of binding limits on the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. No replacement is under negotiation. The loss of …

  • New START expired on February 5, 2026, ending the last legally binding limits on US and Russian nuclear arsenals — 1,550 deployed strategic …
  • This marks the first time since the early 1970s that there are no binding nuclear arms control agreements between the two nations that …

Trump Orders Pentagon to Resume Nuclear Weapons Testing, Breaking 33-Year Moratorium

Trump directed the Pentagon to match other nations' nuclear testing programs, breaking a moratorium that has held since 1992 and threatening to collapse the global norm against nuclear testing that …

  • On October 30, 2025, Trump publicly directed the Pentagon to resume nuclear weapons testing, stating the US should match 'other countries' …
  • The US has not conducted a live nuclear weapons test since 1992, when President George H.W. Bush imposed a unilateral testing moratorium. No …