Nuclear blackmail

Nuclear weapons
Background
Nuclear explosion History Warfare Design Testing Delivery Yield Effects Workers Ethics Arsenals Target selection Arms race Blackmail Espionage Proliferation Disarmament Terrorism Umbrella Opposition Winter
Nuclear-armed states
NPT recognized United States Russia United Kingdom France China Others India Israel (undeclared) Pakistan North Korea Former South Africa Belarus Kazakhstan Ukraine
v t e

Nuclear blackmail is a form of nuclear strategy in which one of states uses the threat of use of nuclear weapons to force an adversary to perform some action or make some concessions. It is a type of extortion that is related to brinkmanship.

In 1950, US president Harry S. Truman publicly stated that the use of nuclear weapons was under "active consideration" against Chinese targets during the Korean War.^[1][2][3][4]

In 1953, US president Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened the use of nuclear weapons to end the Korean War if the Chinese refused to negotiate.^[5][6][7]

In order to support the continued existence of the Republic of China government, the United States issued several nuclear threats against the People's Republic of China in the 1950s to force the evacuation of outlying islands and the cessation of attacks against Quemoy and Matsu.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Declassified documents from the UK National Archives indicate that the United Kingdom considered threatening China with nuclear retaliation in 1961 in the event of a military reclamation of Hong Kong by China.^[13]

In 1969 and onwards, US president Richard Nixon indirectly threatened North Vietnam with nuclear weapons via his madman theory.

In 1981, the US Department of Energy said there had been 75 cases of people attempting nuclear blackmail against the US but only several were serious attempts.^[14]

In 1991, Israel threatened Iraq with a "nuclear counter-response" if there was an attack using chemical weapons during the Gulf War.^[15]

In 2002, the George W. Bush administration declared that it was prepared to strike with nuclear missiles against Iraq if biological or chemical weapons were used against American troops or their allies during the Iraq War.^[16]

In 2005, Chinese major general Zhu Chenghu said that China might retaliate with nuclear weapons if the United States attacked Chinese forces in a conflict over Taiwan.^[17]

On January 2, 2018, US president Donald Trump threatened North Korea by pointing out that the US has much more nuclear firepower than North Korea, in response to a press release stating that a "nuclear button is on Kim Jong-un's desk at all times."^[18]

On February 24, 2022, in the TV address where Vladimir Putin announced Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Putin warned that any countries interfering would face consequences they had never encountered in their history. This was widely interpreted as being a threat of nuclear attack. Several days later, Putin put Russia's nuclear forces on a higher state of alert.^[19][20] United States warned Russia of "catastrophic" consequences for Russia if Russia uses any nuclear weapons after setbacks in the Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[21]

On September 25, 2024, Putin warned the West that if attacked with conventional weapons Russia would consider a nuclear retaliation. Putin went on to threaten nuclear powers that if they supported another country's attack on Russia, then they would be considered participants in such an aggression.^[22][23]

On September 27, 2024, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko warned that Belarus will use nuclear weapons if attacked by the West.^[24]

• Brinkmanship
• Deterrence theory
• Doomsday Clock
• Emotional blackmail
• Essentials of Post–Cold War Deterrence
• Mutual assured destruction
• Nuclear risk during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Nuclear terrorism
• Samson Option