Analysts questioning whether he intends to abrogate 'New START'

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he wants to ensure the US nuclear arsenal is at the "top of the pack", saying the country has fallen behind in its atomic weapons capacity.

In his first comments about the nuclear arsenal since taking office, Trump said he would like to see a world with no such weapons but expressed concern the US has "fallen behind on nuclear weapon capacity".

"A wonderful 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," Trump said.

Russia has 7,300 warheads in its nuclear arsenal and the US has 6,970, according to the Ploughshares Fund, an anti-nuclear group.

"The history of the Cold War shows us that no one comes out 'on the top of the pack' of an arms race and nuclear brinkmanship," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the independent Arms Control Association nonprofit group.

"Russia and the US have far more weapons than is necessary to deter nuclear attack by the other or by another nuclear-armed country,' he said.

The new strategic arms limitation treaty between the US and Russia - known as New START - stipulates that by Feb 5, 2018, both countries must limit their arsenals of strategic nuclear weapons to equal levels for 10 years.

The treaty permits both countries to have no more than 800 deployed and non-deployed land-based intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missile launchers and heavy bombers equipped to carry nuclear weapons, and contains equal limits on other nuclear weapons.

Analysts have questioned whether Trump wants to abrogate New START or will begin deploying other warheads.

Trump called New START "a one-sided deal".

"Just another bad deal that the country made, whether it's START, whether it's the Iran deal," he said.

"We're going to start making good deals."

Reuters