{"id":1428,"date":"2026-06-10T19:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:01:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arabnewsmonitor.com\/2026\/06\/10\/us-spends-more-on-nukes-than-rest-of-world-combined-watchdog\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T19:01:32","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T19:01:32","slug":"us-spends-more-on-nukes-than-rest-of-world-combined-watchdog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/?p=1428","title":{"rendered":"US spends more on nukes than rest of world combined \u2013 watchdog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s nuclear weapons budget rose by $12.4 billion in a single year, according to ICAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

US spending on nuclear weapons surged by nearly a quarter in 2025 compared to the previous year, according to findings by an anti-nuclear watchdog.<\/p>\n

In a report released on Tuesday, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) said the world\u2019s nine nuclear-armed states spent nearly $119 billion on their arsenals last year \u2013 the equivalent of $3,768 every second.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The US remained by far the biggest spender, pouring $69.2 billion into its nuclear arsenal \u2013 more than all other eight nations combined. Washington also recorded the largest annual increase, with spending rising 22% year-on-year, or $12.4 billion.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"RT\"
US mulls placing nukes in more NATO countries \u2013 FT<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Combined spending by the US, Russia, China, the UK, France, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea jumped 19% year-on-year, or $16.8 billion, to a record high. China ranked second with spending of $13.5 billion, while the UK overtook Russia as the third-largest spender, allocating $12.6 billion compared to Moscow\u2019s $9.5 billion.<\/p>\n

ICAN, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning group, said the increase reflects continued investment in modernizing and expanding nuclear arsenals amid mounting global tensions.<\/p>\n

The nine nuclear powers have spent a combined $471 billion on their arsenals over the past five years, the group said. It added that a single day\u2019s nuclear weapons spending in 2025 could have provided food for two million people for a year, while annual spending could have covered the UN\u2019s regular budget for 32 years.<\/p>\n

The report comes as the US is considering deploying its nuclear weapons to additional NATO member states in Europe, according to a Financial Times report last week. The outlet said US officials had discussed expanding the nuclear-sharing arrangement beyond its current participants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"FILE
NATO\u2019s nuclear moves will not go unanswered \u2013 Moscow<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Countries neighboring Russia, including Poland and the Baltic states, have reportedly expressed interest in hosting US nuclear weapons.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The US has stationed nuclear weapons in Europe under its nuclear-sharing program since the 1950s. B61 gravity bombs are currently believed to be deployed in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and T\u00fcrkiye, while control of the weapons remains with Washington.<\/p>\n

Moscow has warned that any further expansion of NATO\u2019s nuclear infrastructure toward Russia\u2019s borders would trigger a response. Earlier this month, Russian Ambassador-at-Large Andrey Belousov reiterated a demand that all US nuclear weapons be withdrawn from Europe and the infrastructure supporting their deployment be dismantled.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington\u2019s nuclear weapons budget rose by $12.4 billion in a single year, according to ICAN…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1428"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1428\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arabnewsmonitor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}