Joe Rogan Experience #2554 - Carlo Rovelli · Aired Sep 15, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
It has been a century since a nuclear power was bombarded on its own territory.
The finding
What the evidence shows
Nuclear powers have been hit on their own soil many times. In May 2025 India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed, struck targets inside each other's territory with cruise missiles, drones and aircraft, and Carnegie's review places that in a run of similar incidents going back through 2019 and 2016. Earlier cases include Iraq firing about 42 Scud missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa in 1991 and the 1969 border fighting between the Soviet Union and China. Ukraine also has not hit Moscow with Western weapons: the Western long-range missiles it has fired went to border regions such as Bryansk, Kursk and Rostov, while Moscow has been struck by Ukrainian-made drones.
Read the supporting source · carnegieendowment.org ↗Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that it has been a century since a nuclear power was bombarded on its own territory?
No, not as stated. Nuclear powers have been hit on their own soil many times. In May 2025 India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed, struck targets inside each other's territory with cruise missiles, drones and aircraft, and Carnegie's review places that in a run of similar incidents going back through 2019 and 2016. Carlo Rovelli said it (matched by voice) on Joe Rogan Experience #2554 - Carlo Rovelli, aired Sep 15, 2026, at 58:30. The supporting source is carnegieendowment.org, linked below.
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