{"id":59886,"date":"2026-06-28T06:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T14:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=59886"},"modified":"2026-06-28T06:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T14:22:11","slug":"john-mearsheimer-russia-has-red-lines-and-nuclear-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/28\/john-mearsheimer-russia-has-red-lines-and-nuclear-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"John Mearsheimer: Russia Has Red Lines and Nuclear Weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted from John’s Substack<\/a>:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On 25 June 2026, I was on the\u201dDeep Dive\u201d with Lt. Col. (ret.) Danny Davis. We talked at some length about events in Iran, where the US and Iran are once again engaged in tit-for-tat attacks. One might think the US has decided to get tough with Iran and settle this conflict once and for all. Think again. The US has no military option for winning this war, which is why the US signed the Memorandum of Understanding, which is effectively a surrender document, on 17 June 2026. Engaging in a new round of tit-for-tat attacks only makes a bad situation worse.<\/p>\n

Danny and I also talked about Russia\u2019s toughening attitude toward Ukraine and its Western backers, who seem to think that Russia has no red lines and they can launch massive drone attacks into the Russian homeland without fear of Russia striking targets in Europe. Think again. There are clear signs that Russia has red lines, which its leaders believe Ukraine and its allies are close to crossing or maybe have crossed.<\/p>\n