John Mearsheimer asks: What’s the Least Bad Alternative?

by John Mearsheimer | Feb 25, 2026 | 2 comments

Reprinted from John’s Substack:

On 22 February 2026, I was on “Switzerland” talking with Tom Switzer about the possibility of President Trump attacking Iran. We had a fascinating discussion about whether the US has a viable military option. Although we reached no conclusion on whether or not Trump would turn the US military loose on Iran, we did agree that he has no good option on Iran and is choosing among two bad alternatives. Surely the least bad option is not to attack

John J. Mearsheimer, PhD, is an American professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. More recently Mearsheimer has attracted attention for co-authoring and publishing the article The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy, which was subsequently published as a book.

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