Sen. Lindsey Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that U.S. negotiations with Iran have “hit a wall”and President Trump has “had it” with agreements that “They’ve been dramatically weakened, but there are still targets that could weaken them more,” Graham said. “Weaken them further, and you may get a deal later. But you’re not going to get a deal with this crowd until you hurt them more.” “I think you can’t get a coherent answer from Iran because they can’t be coherent. I think they’re so disheveled. They’re so weakened. They agree to things, and the next day, they back up. President Trump’s very frustrated,” he explained. “It’s worth losing my job,” Graham said. “I’ve been this way for 20 years. I believe they’re religious Nazis in Iran. If they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. They’ve been trying to get one. They’ve been cheating.” “That’s his Churchill moment,” he said. “When Churchill came into power, he promised ‘blood, sweat, toil, heartache until we deal with the Nazis who are an existential threat to the British way of life.’ And if Hitler had taken charge of the planet, it would have been the darkest hour in humanity. I believe Iran wants the nuclear weapon. They would use it.” <\/p>\n
SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: So where are we with Iran? I think we’ve hit a wall when it comes to negotiations. Here’s what the president said just a couple of days ago. “Basically, I can say this. I’m not going to be much more patient. Any sane person would make a deal, but they might be crazy.” The president’s had it with moving the goal post. If you get a deal, the next day they wake up. In the president’s word, “It’s like we never had the conversation.” So what happens next? I think we hit a wall on deal making. I would encourage the president to look at reducing Iran’s military capability even further. They’ve been dramatically weakened, but there’s still targets that could weaken them more militarily. And I would also keep the embargo on to weaken their economy. And I’d let the Iranians know, “If you keep terrorizing the region, Kharg Island, which is your source of revenue, will be in play.” I think that would be the smart next play. You can’t pursue a deal more than the people on the other side want a deal. KRISTEN WELKER: Let me ask you. I just want to be very explicit. You are saying you think these negotiations have hit a wall. SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yes, ma’am. KRISTEN WELKER: Are you saying, Senator, that you think it’s time for President Trump to resume military action against Iran? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think you can’t get a coherent answer from Iran because they can’t be coherent. I think they’re so disheveled how. They’re so weakened. They agree to things, and the next day, they back up. President Trump’s very frustrated. So what to do next? I think it’s going to be very difficult to get a deal with the current regime. Is there any evidence that they’ve changed? I talked to the CIA director yesterday. “Is there any evidence that the crowd in charge now is any less committed to destroying Israel? Going after us, the great Satan, purifying Islam.” I think the answer is no. So weaken them further, and you may get a deal later. But you’re not going to get a deal with this crowd until you hurt them more. KRISTEN WELKER: So you’re saying it sounds like you do support more military action at this point. Do you think that’s something that will happen? Do you think it could happen in days, weeks, months? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I think the status quo is hurting us all. The longer the strait is closed, the more we try to pursue a deal that never happens, the stronger Iran gets. So my analysis is there’s nothing to suggest that the people in charge now are any different in terms of the regime’s goal to terrorize the world, destroy Israel, come after us. So what do you do next? You weaken them further. So what President Trump has done has been amazing militarily. But there’s still more targets to be had. And there’s things we can do to hurt. The energy infrastructure is their soft underbelly. If you go back to the fight, I’d put energy on top of the list. KRISTEN WELKER: So you’re calling for strikes on the energy infrastructure, Senator? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Yeah, I’m calling to hurt this regime. If you do the same old thing, you’re going to get the same result. Hurt them more. Maybe they’ll make a deal if you hurt them enough. But right now, I think they’re trying to wait us out. I think they’re playing games. And in the words of the president, I think they’re crazy. I think he’s right. KRISTEN WELKER: Senator, one of the key goals from President Trump was to get Iran’s nuclear capabilities, to wipe that out. How does the United States retrieve Iran’s nuclear material without sending in ground forces? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, hopefully he can do it diplomatically. KRISTEN WELKER: But don’t you need to send in ground forces if you want to retrieve it which is what we did. Prime Minister Netanyahu talks about– SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: He wants to get the nuclear dust. There’s another way to do it. And I talked to him about it yesterday. Draw a circle around where we know it’s at. Call it the circle of death. Anybody goes inside the circle is going to die until we can find a way to deal with this. The goal is to make sure they can’t retrieve it. They can’t make a dirty bomb. Their enrichment capability has been obliterated at least for a couple years. KRISTEN WELKER: All right. Let me turn to the economy and the economic effects of the war which are being felt here at home. Inflation has climbed to the highest annual rate in three years. Gas prices are at a four-year high. Grocery prices are climbing. President Trump was pressed on how all of these factors impact how he views his negotiations with Iran. Take a look. PRESIDENT TRUMP: Financial situation, I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing. We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all.<\/i> KRISTEN WELKER: Do you agree with the president that he shouldn’t be taking America’s financial situation into account when dealing with Iran? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: That’s his Churchill moment. When Churchill came into power, he promised “blood, sweat, toil, heartache until we deal with the Nazis who are an existential threat to the British way of life.” And if Hitler had taken charge of the planet, it would have been the darkest hour in humanity. I believe Iran wants the nuclear weapon. They would use it. So does President Trump. And they would use it for their religious agenda. They would destroy the Jewish state. They would eventually hold us hostage. So his audience, the Iranian regime. Do I worry about gas prices? Yes. But President Trump’s right. The biggest threat to the hostility in the world is a nuke-armed Iran. And whatever price we have to pay we will pay. What did Churchill say? Whatever price we have to pay to beat Hitler, we will pay. Same with Iran. The good news, we’re inside the ten-yard line. I think if we go back to military activity, weaken them further, then we can end this thing pretty soon. KRISTEN WELKER: Senator, you take me to my next question because 70% of Americans in a new poll say President Trump is doing a bad job on the economy, the number one issue for voters, as you know. Bottom line, is it worth losing the mid-terms if the result is a non-nuclear Iran? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: It’s worth losing my job. If I had to give my job up to make sure Iran would never have a nuclear weapon, I would do it. KRISTEN WELKER: Would you give up the House and the Senate? SENATOR LINDSEY GRAHAM: I would give up. Politically the most important thing I can do with the job I’ve been given is to protect the American people. Now, you don’t have to agree with me. But I’ve been this way for 20 years. I believe they’re religious Nazis in Iran. If they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. They’ve been trying to get one. They’ve been cheating. Obama and Biden were jokes when it came to containing Iran. Trump is doing something people should have done a long time ago. But here’s the good news. Gas prices will come down when you put Iran in a box. Saudi, Israel peace will become possible when you put Iran in box. The upside of dealing with Iran is enormously good. But you got to deal with them.<\/blockquote. \nRealClearPolitics Videos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sen. Lindsey Graham told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that U.S. negotiations with Iran have “hit a wall”and President Trump has “had it” with agreements that “They’ve been dramatically weakened, but there are still targets that could weaken them more,” Graham said. “Weaken them further, and you may get a deal later. But you’re not going […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[29164,6254,7559,261,6253,470,1281,45,1299,13017],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93328"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fallsurfing.net\/firstnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}