John Mearsheimer

speaker

1,250 appearances 3 recordings 1 series first heard Jul 2026 last heard 2d ago

John Mearsheimer’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 3 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 1.

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The Chris Hedges Report · The Iran War Is the Biggest Strategic Blunder in US History (w/ John Mearsheimer) | TCHR · 30 Aug 2026 podcast

And as I said, I mean, you're absolutely right.

And the cost exchange ratio

definitely favors the incoming ballistic missiles.

You know, just to give you some numbers here, it's usually estimated that an incoming Iranian ballistic missile costs somewhere between $500,000 and $1 million.

Let's say that that's true.

And it's usually said that a defensive missile costs about $4 million.

So that means that

Given the fact you have to fire two defensive missiles, these are pack three missiles, you have to fire two pack three missiles at every incoming ballistic missile to stand a good chance of knocking it down.

That means that the cost exchange ratio is not four to one.

$4 million versus $1 million, it's 8 to 1 because you're firing two PAC-3s, two Patriot missiles at each incoming ballistic missile.

So you see that the cost exchange ratio is about 8 to 1.

Now, that assumes that an incoming ballistic missile from Iran costs $1 million, but

What if it costs only $500,000, which is the low end of the estimate?

The $1 million is the high end of the estimate, which is what I was using to give you the 16 to 1 ratio.

I mean, the 8 to 1 ratio.

If it's $500,000 for an Iranian ballistic missile, $500,000, then the cost exchange ratio is 16 to 1.

And then you marry that to the point that you're making that it takes forever and a day to build these things.

And we see that this is one of the principal problems that the United States faces with the depletion of its inventory of precious weapons.

We just don't build weapons that you can pump out on a routine basis.

It takes a long time to pump out those weapons because they are boutique weapons for the most part.

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