Trump administration withdraws from nuclear weapons treaty, accuses Russia of violations

In addition to the complete statement in above video:

A senior administration official, not authorized to speak on the record, said the Pentagon has started to conduct research and development of intermediate range missiles. But the U.S. is not close to making any decisions about whether and how such weapons would be deployed, he said, adding that the administration is focused on conventional  missiles.

“We are only looking at conventional options at this time,” this official said. “Nothing the United States is currently looking at is nuclear in character.”

This official also emphasized that any decisions about deployments would be made in close consultation with NATO allies. He insisted that said Friday’s decision was not a signal that the U.S. would pivot toward an arms race with China, although he noted that China has more than 1,000 of these intermediate range missiles.