If Trump orders me to launch a nuclear attack he won't ignore”

His comments come just days after US senators discussed a president's authority to launch a nuclear attack.

Some of them expressed concern that President Donald Trump may irresponsiblely order such an attack, reports “BBC”, report Periscope.

Others, however, said a president should have the authority to act without interference by lawyers. It was the first such hearing in more than 40 years.

In August, Trump pledged to release “fire and rigging where the world has not previously seen” if North Korea threatens the US.

Last month, the republican chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Bob Corker, accused the president of deploying US “on a road to World War III”.

Speaking at the Halifax International Security Forum in Canada, General Hyten said: “We think a lot about these things. When you have this responsibility, how do you not think about it?

As for the legality of an attack, the general said he had studied US laws on armed conflicts for many years, which determines the key criteria the president must consider before launching an attack: Weakness, difference, propaganda and unnecessary suffering.

The report of the armed conflict cites an International Court of Justice ruling that stresses that while the threat or use of nuclear weapons is not prohibited from international law, “the use of such weapons does not seem to be compatible with respecting the requirements of the applicable law in armed conflicts”.

While senators and experts agree that the president has full authority to protect the nation, commentators have noted because there is no sweeping definition of the immediate “attack”, the president has not been given a completely free hand.

“I give advice to the president, he will tell me what to do”, General Hyten said.

He added: “If you perform an illegal order, you will go to prison, you can go to jail for the rest of your life”.

President Trump has not publicly commented on General Hyten's remarks./Periscopi/