First of all, it was the Israelis who started this.

Israel made a major mistake that increases the likelihood that Iran will get nuclear weapons.

Nuclear weapons are basically a force for peace.

NATO couldn't let a European sovereign democratic country come under nuclear attack and not respond, sure.

Yes, it could. And no American president, in my opinion, is willing to sacrifice New York or Chicago or Los Angeles for Ukraine.

Sorry, but Professor, I think you don't fully understand. Let me clarify. Just what we're talking about here. We're talking about nuclear weapons. We're talking about nuclear war.

This is ever justified morally to deploy nuclear weapons.

If you use nuclear weapons to effectively murder huge numbers of civilians, you're committing a war crime.

Well, Iran's attack on Israel brought a decades-long proxy war to the brink of a red-hot conflict.

But most experts on the West agreed were President Biden's verdict that it was an emphatic Israeli win.

Iran looked weak, Israel looked strong again, Western allies and key Arab states rallied to Israel's

defense, underscoring ties that have been sorely tested by Israel's assault on Gaza.

My next guest often swims against the tide of expert consensus.

He's previously argued that a nuclear Iran would make the world a safer place.

And that Israel is the Middle East foremost agitated.

Returning to uncensored, as well, welcome back, Professor John Meersheimer.

Well, John, great to have you back on.

First of all, your reaction to what happened when Iran attacked Israel.

I was actually quite amazed that the Iranians attacked Israel.

I mean, this was the first case of Iran launching missiles from its own territory and hitting Israel.

And they launched a massive attack.

And even though the vast majority of those missiles and drones did not get through, the fact is that they did launch this attack,

...