News - Middle East: The United States will be the first country to pull the nuclear trigger, an American academic and political commentator has warned.  

Daniel Kovalik, an academic at the University of Pittsburgh, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday, while commenting on the incendiary statements by former US national security adviser H.R. McMaster and other American officials.

McMaster said on Sunday that the United States must take Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine “seriously.”

McMaster, a retired US Army lieutenant general who served as a national security adviser under former President Donald Trump, claimed that Putin’s nuclear threat is the “only quiver he has left” as the Russian leader struggles in the war.

“We ought to take it seriously,” McMaster said of the nuclear threat. “We have to, but we ought to not allow this to cow us in terms of the support for the Ukrainians.”

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that there is no one to stop Putin from following through on his recent threats of using nuclear weapons.

The United States is considering how to respond to a range of potential scenarios, including fears that Russians could use tactical nuclear weapons, CNN reported on Sunday quoting three sources briefed on the latest intelligence.

“Officials caution the US has not detected preparations for a nuclear strike. However, experts view them as potential options the US must prepare for as Russia’s invasion falters and as Moscow annexes more Ukrainian territory,” the report said.