US officials were aware while negotiating the New START agreement that Russia may have been simultaneously violating the Intermediate Nuclear Forces agreement, a senior Pentagon official testified on Wednesday. “We had concerns that they were in violation; we know now that they were,” Unders?ecretary of Defense for Policy Christine Wormuth told the House Armed Services Committee. Wormuth also admitted that the numbers agreed upon actually allow Russia to deploy additional strategic nuclear weapons, while forcing the US to cut its deployed deterrent. She reasserted, however, that New START “protects our interests” and still allows the US to maintain “a very strong nuclear deterrent” suited to our strategic needs. Russia also has a “very large number” of tactical nuclear weapons outside the treaty that the US would like to see reduced, “but a country has to be willing to do that,” which Russia is not, she added.
The U.S. military is maintaining a beefed-up presence in the Middle East, including fighters and air defense assets, following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities June 22 and subsequent retaliation by the Iranians against Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
