WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Saturday he would be pulling out of a cold-war era.

Trump said Moscow had violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Treaty Treaty and he would halt the agreement.

"We're going to terminate the agreement and we're going to pull out," Trump said when leaving a rally in Nevada Saturday afternoon. He said the US would pull out a deal, but China is not currently a party of the agreement.

"They have been violating it for many years," the president said. "And we're not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and we're not allowed to."

For most of the Cold War, U.S.-Russian summits were dominated by the issue of nuclear weapons, with Presidents Nixon, Carter and Reagan reaching a series of incremental agreements to limit each other's nuclear arsenal.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is one of those agreements and is set to expire in the next two years. The 1987 pact helps protect the security of the U.S. and its allies in Europe and the Far East.

It prohibits the United States and Russia from possessing, producing or testing-flying a ground-launched missile with a range of 300 to 3,400 miles. It also covers all land-based missiles, including those carrying nuclear warheads.

"That's unfortunate," said Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.

Pifer, writing on the news in a piece for the Brookings Institution said Trump's decision that the U.S. would be blamed for an agreement to make the world a safer place.

The landmark treaty, signed by Ronald Reagan, helped lead to the destruction of missiles and simmered tensions during the Cold War.

But for years, the U.S. has accused of expanding and advancing its weapons stockpile. Meanwhile, Trump says the U.S. is constrained because of the agreement, preventing the nation from catching up.

The Defense Dept. in the United States, which also called for the U.S. to develop two new additional nuclear weapons to keep other world powers, including China, at bay.

more: U.S. calls for new nuclear weapons in Russia develops nuclear-armed torpedo

more: Report: Russian missile deployment violates treaty

One of the weapons of the Defense Department said the United States is a united states of the United States of America.

Called the "Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System," the Russian torpedo is reported to be able to deliver a thermonuclear cobalt bomb to up to 100 megatons. The weapon could trigger a tsunami wave of radioactive water that would blanket a coastal city. Politicians have called the torpedo a "doomsday" weapon.

The president said the advancements, including those by China, were "unacceptable."

"We'll have to develop these weapons, unless we come to Russia and do it, and we'll be doing it and if China doing it. it, and we're adhering to the agreement, that's unacceptable, "Trump said.

The president continued, explaining he would gladly stay in the pact but if "as long as somebody's violating the agreement, we're not going to be the only ones to adhere to it."

The issue, Pifer said, is that if the U.S. pulls out of the treaty, there is no reason for Russia to halt creating and testing new weapons. He said negotiations and pushing Russia's compliance were needed.

"So, U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty is a loser all around," he said. "Russian officials probably are celebrating the news."

Trump made the announcement Saturday following a campaign in Elko, Nevada.

National Security Adviser John Bolton was headed Saturday to Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.

Contributing: Associated Press

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