8 min ago
Senator Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters outside the White House February 28.
Ben Curtis/AP
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said he spoke with President Donald Trump last night about Iran and criticized his Republican colleagues who are wary of the US taking an offensive position in the region.
Graham, a staunch supporter of taking an aggressive approach against Iran, said Wednesday that Trump has been “very steady” on the issue and is “intent on making sure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.”
He said Israel has done an “amazing job” in its series of strikes on Iran, but noted that there is one facility that “it would be hard to Israel to get without our help.”
“We’ll see what the president does. But I never felt better about the end of the Iran nuclear program is very close, and the world will be better off for it,” he said.
Pressed by CNN on the wing of the GOP who are concerned that striking Iran could embroil the US in a wider war, Graham said, “You either want to do away with their nuclear program or you don’t,” adding that “diplomacy didn’t work” in the Trump administration’s dealings with the regime.
“Either you want them to have a nuclear weapon, or you don’t, and if you don’t, if diplomacy fails, you use force,” he said, continuing: “If you don’t understand that Iran with a nuclear weapon is the biggest danger in the world, you’re missing a lot. If you don’t understand this is a religious Nazi regime, you’re not listening to what they say.”
Graham explained that the president has to make “hard decisions in real time,” and if “you’re sitting in the bleachers and you’re uninformed, it’s kind of a dangerous moment.”
Sen. Graham: After talk with Trump on Iran, GOP must understand "if diplomacy fails, you use force"
From CNN’s Morgan Rimmer and Alison Main
Senator Lindsey Graham speaks to reporters outside the White House February 28.
Ben Curtis/AP
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham said he spoke with President Donald Trump last night about Iran and criticized his Republican colleagues who are wary of the US taking an offensive position in the region.
Graham, a staunch supporter of taking an aggressive approach against Iran, said Wednesday that Trump has been “very steady” on the issue and is “intent on making sure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.”
He said Israel has done an “amazing job” in its series of strikes on Iran, but noted that there is one facility that “it would be hard to Israel to get without our help.”
“We’ll see what the president does. But I never felt better about the end of the Iran nuclear program is very close, and the world will be better off for it,” he said.
Pressed by CNN on the wing of the GOP who are concerned that striking Iran could embroil the US in a wider war, Graham said, “You either want to do away with their nuclear program or you don’t,” adding that “diplomacy didn’t work” in the Trump administration’s dealings with the regime.
“Either you want them to have a nuclear weapon, or you don’t, and if you don’t, if diplomacy fails, you use force,” he said, continuing: “If you don’t understand that Iran with a nuclear weapon is the biggest danger in the world, you’re missing a lot. If you don’t understand this is a religious Nazi regime, you’re not listening to what they say.”
Graham explained that the president has to make “hard decisions in real time,” and if “you’re sitting in the bleachers and you’re uninformed, it’s kind of a dangerous moment.”
