Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) unpacks President Donald Trump’s response to the Iranian conflict in an interview with FOX News Channel’s Sean Hannity on Tuesday’s broadcast of “Hannity.” Hannity let Graham speak uninterrupted for 6 minutes In the interview, Graham promised Saudi Arabia a mutual defense agreement that would give the nation protection “in perpetuity,” declared his intention to stand by Israel to “our dying day,” threatened to remove U.S. airbases from Spain because the country’s leader opposed military intervention in Iran, and much more. “I want our air bases out of Spain into a country that will let us use them,” Graham said. “To our Arab friends, I’ve tried to help you construct a new Mideast. You need to up your game here.” “I can’t go to South Carolina and say, we’re fighting and you won’t publicly fight,” Graham continued. “What you’re doing behind the scenes, that has to stop. The double-dealing of the Arab world when it comes to this stuff needs to end. I go back to South Carolina, I’m asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Mideast,” he said. “What I want you to do in the Mideast to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, step forward and say, this is my fight too. I join America.”

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: Here now with more South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. Senator, you know, as I listen to that, that to me is critical. If Donald Trump is offering them civilian-use uranium that cannot be turned into weapons-grade uranium, offering it to them for free in perpetuity, and they start out by saying that they have the absolute right to pursue nuclear weapons based on their history, their ideology, their chanting death to America, how could we not act? SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Thank you, Sean. Number one, I want to make a comment. We’re fighting people, the Ayatollah and his son, who did not fall far from his father’s tree. They’re religious Nazis. Nobody believed Hitler wanted to kill all the Jews and create a master race. They were wrong to miscalculate Hitler. People have miscalculated the Ayatollah and this regime for a very long time. Barack Obama and Joe Biden were fools when it comes to Iran. What did Donald Trump do? He spoke them out. They do not want peaceful nuclear power. They want a bomb to purify Islam, to destroy the state of Israel and come after us. They’re religious Nazis, and Donald Trump proved that point. To Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, God bless you, you missed the most important thing said on your show. They admitted to Steve, the Iranians, they had 430 grams, kilograms, of highly enriched uranium at 60 percent. It would take less than a month to go to 90 percent, enough to make 11 bombs. So, on your show, it was disclosed that the Iranians admitted to Steve Witkoff, we have enough highly enriched uranium to make 11 nuclear bombs. We literally dodged a nuclear bullet. If President Trump had not done this, they could have had a nuclear capability within months-weeks, not months. And if they had a weapon, they would use it. To all those who don’t believe that, you’re stupid. You’re a fool, and I hate to be so harsh. People got Hitler wrong. Donald Trump is the right man at the right time. To our allies, if you can’t join this fight, what fight are you going to join? To Spain. You won’t let us use your air-our air bases in your country to stop a homicidal regime from getting nuclear weapons that terrorize the world. I am encouraging President Donald J. Trump tonight to move all of our bases out of Spain. You know, we have an Article 5 commitment to Spain under NATO, but we shouldn’t have air bases in a country that will not let us use those planes to protect the world against a religious Nazi regime. As to Lebanon, there is a military leader in charge of the Lebanese army that I don’t trust as far as I can throw him. He is willfully ignoring Hezbollah. He’s not disarming Hezbollah. There were rockets fired from areas that were supposed to be cleared by the Lebanese army. Let’s get somebody in charge of the Lebanese military that will use it. Finally, to my friends in Saudi Arabia, I’ve been your biggest champion. I think the crown prince has taken Saudi Arabia in a completely different direction, in a good way. But here’s what I want to say to Saudi Arabia tonight. I’m willing to do a mutual defense agreement with your country to give you protection in perpetuity. Under the agreement I’ve been pushing and I hope we can continue to talk about, if you’re attacked by Iran, we would go to war for you. To Saudi Arabia, our embassy was hit in Riyadh. Do you not have an obligation to join the fight with us? You have yet to do that. So if you do not believe the American embassy being attacked in Riyadh would trigger mutual self-defense, maybe we shouldn’t do a treaty with you. To our friends in the United Arab Emirates, you joined Abraham Accords when nobody else would. You’ve been a great partner, but you said today publicly at the UN, your country would not be used to join the fight against the Ayatollah’s regime. This is so disappointing. We need partners that will step forward in a fight that we can’t afford to lose. The Arab countries are as much at threat as we are. And I’ve been saying this for 20 years. Finally, we got a commander-in-chief as clear-eyed. He tried diplomacy. He tried to give them what they say they want, peaceful nuclear power, and they told us to go to hell. And quietly and cheating, they acquired enough highly enriched uranium to build 11 bombs, and the world missed that. If it had not been for Whitcoff and Jared, we wouldn’t know that. So, President Trump, not only did you do the right thing, you did it in the nick of time. And to all the critics of President Trump, do you really believe the Ayatollah wouldn’t use a nuclear weapon if he had it? Do you really believe this regime is normal? They’re no more normal than Hitler was. So we have a commander-in-chief tonight and President Trump, who saved us in literally the nick of time. If we’d waited another year, they would have had 11 nuclear bombs, and they would use them. I’ve come to understand that there are some people you just can’t deal with. If somebody wants to burn your house down, you don’t negotiate with them. You stop them. So, President Trump has embarked on a great quest to destroy a religious Nazi regime that would destroy us. I hope something better comes along. But tonight, we need to honor this young man and the other six who fell. The best thing you can do to honor this young man is finish the job he died for. And to all those who died in this endeavor called Epic Fury, you’re protecting America, because I believe with all my heart and soul, if the regime in Iran still stands when this is over, we’ve made a mistake. If they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. They’ve been lying about what they’re doing with their nuclear program. They want a bomb because they’re Nazis. They’re crazy. They want to kill all the Jews, and the Jews have been down that road before. To our friends in Israel, God bless you. I’m with you in every way. To all the anti-Semites, to all the isolationists, I don’t-forget it. I’m not with you. I’m with Israel. I will be with Israel to our dying day. They’re the best ally we could hope for. So, we have a commander in chief in President Trump, who I think is Ronald Reagan plus, plus, plus. He’s told the Iranians, you mess with us, trade our moves, I’m going to destroy you beyond recognition. So, tonight, I hope the American people understand that President Trump is doing what he had to do. You could not ignore this information and be a protector of America. The evidence was beyond clear. They do not want a nuclear power program. They want a bomb. And the only way they won’t get a bomb is for somebody to stop them, and that somebody is Bibi and Trump. God bless you both. HANNITY: Let me delve a little deeper with your frustration with our allies and what you mean by this. I was particularly, like you, shocked over Spain and Great Britain and Macron in France. Now, I’ve looked at Europe. Europe is in a precipitous decline. And Secretary of State Rubio pointed this out in a speech in Munich. The president has been pointing it out. The president had to drag Europe kicking and screaming to pay their fair share for NATO. But on the issue, they have ignored their own security for their own countries and their own continent. They have also had unfettered immigration without assimilation. How do we ever end up with 87 Sharia courts in Great Britain? How do we end up with no-go zones in France and other parts of Europe? How is it they have embraced socialism, climate alarmism? And on a separate note to our friends in the Middle East, this is your moment of choosing, just like it is Western Europe. This is your moment to pick a side. Either you’re going to stand against this evil regime, or you’re not. Let us know where you stand. I think the president, very appropriate comments for the prime minister of Great Britain. He’s no Winston Churchill. GRAHAM: Well, I would just say this. When I go back to South Carolina, I try to make the argument, if we don’t hit them now, they will hit us later. When it comes to radical Islam, you may be tired of fighting them. They’re not tired of fighting you. When I ask people in South Carolina how many people believe in this room, if the Ayatollah had a nuclear weapon, he would use it, 90 percent raise their hand. I want to keep the war from coming here. The best way to protect America is to hit them over there before they get here. The best way to protect America is to have allies. To our friends in Saudi Arabia, I am willing to do a treaty to go to war for you, but you got to step up and let America know you’re a liable ally. If you cannot join this fight, Iran has attacked your country viciously, what fight are you going to join? This is a time of choosing. We need to put a coalition together that stands against evil, that insists on a better Mideast. Let’s don’t go backward, let’s go forward. And just finish on this thought. To the American people, we live in a world of great danger. You ignore this danger at your own peril. And in Donald J. Trump, you have a common-sense, reasoned man. He doesn’t want entanglement. He doesn’t want military action, unless he has to. And in this case, he had to. 430 grams of highly enriched uranium was possessed by this regime. They could have made 11 bombs within weeks, not years, if we had not acted. So, to President Trump, you saved the world from a religious Nazi regime having nuclear weapons. God bless you. God bless the men and women, Epic Fury. God bless the seven who failed. Let’s finish the job. To our allies, step up, get our air bases out of Spain. They’re not reliable. Move all those airplanes to a country that would let us use them when we’re threatened by a regime like Iran. To our friends in Spain, men, you have lost your way. I don’t want to do business with you anymore. I want our air bases out of Spain into a country that will let us use them. To our Arab friends, I’ve tried to help you construct a new Mideast. You need to up your game here. I can’t go to South Carolina and say, we’re fighting and you won’t publicly fight. What you’re doing behind the scenes, that has to stop. The double-dealing of the Arab world when it comes to this stuff needs to end. I go back to South Carolina, I’m asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Mideast. What I want you to do in the Mideast to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, step forward and say, this is my fight too. I join America. I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down. If you don’t, you’re making a great mistake and you’re going to cut off the ability to have a better relationship with the United States. I say this as a friend.

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