Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said on Friday that he’s urging U.S. support for Israel’s campaign to destroy Iran’s nuclear program as a means of “substantially undoing the damage caused by the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal” during the Biden administration. 

The South Carolina senator told Jewish Insider that he views Israel’s military operation in Iran as an opportunity to improve the reputation of the U.S. in the region by helping the Jewish state eliminate the threat of a nuclear Tehran if diplomatic efforts to address the issue fail. 

Graham argued that the standing of the U.S. in the Mideast was significantly degraded by the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, which was ordered under President Donald Trump during his first administration and implemented under then-President Joe Biden. 

“If Iran rejects diplomacy, the only logical answer is to help Israel finish the job. If we don’t do that, it will be another example of Afghanistan where we blink. We can’t afford that anymore. If we do help Israel, who has been amazingly successful thus far, then I think it reverses the damage that Afghanistan caused for America. We’ve got a chance not only to take a bad guy off the table in terms of their nuclear ambitions, but reset the position of America in the world. I would take that opportunity if I were President Trump,” Graham said. 

“The benefit to us as a nation is that Iran is a threat not only to Israel but to us. It would have the benefit of substantially undoing the damage caused by the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal. We would be seen as a stronger, more reliable ally and it would help us to get good outcomes in other conflicts throughout the world,” he continued. 

Graham expressed appreciation for Trump’s efforts to try “to get Iran back to the negotiating table to end their nuclear program through diplomacy” while cautioning that he believes “it’s important for the United States to go all in with Israel in finishing the job regarding Iran’s nuclear program” if “that effort fails.”

“We have capability Israel doesn’t just in terms of air assets, and I think it is in our national security interest to provide Israel what they need and to assist them in finishing the job. That doesn’t require boots on the ground, but it will require military assets,” the GOP senator said. 

“If you believe in America as a force for good and you believe that we should deal with threats before they get out of hand, then the answer is to go all in. What would be provocative and irresponsible is to allow this program to continue. We’re trying to use diplomacy to end it, but that only works if we have a willing partner. I cannot stress how important it is to deny Iran a nuclear capability. If they get a weapon, they will use it. And if they get a weapon, the Arabs will want one of their own and you’ll have a new arms race in the Mideast,” he added of the risks of a nuclear-armed Iran. 

Asked about left- and right-wing critics of Israel’s actions who have accused the Jewish state of hurting the diplomatic efforts, Graham compared them to “the heirs of Neville Chamberlain.”

“That’s what they said about Hitler, that being provocative would make Hitler more lethal. They were wrong then, they’re wrong now,” he said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is set to introduce a resolution affirming that the only acceptable outcome of U.S. nuclear talks with Iran would be the total dismantlement of its enrichment program, Jewish Insider has learned. Graham says he hopes to introduce the legislation on Thursday. 

Graham first unveiled the resolution last month alongside Sens. Katie Britt (R-AL) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) in response to President Donald Trump’s nuclear negotiations with Tehran. Many Republicans on Capitol Hill have grown wary that the Trump administration could agree to a deal with terms akin to former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear agreement, though Graham has expressed confidence that Trump would not allow for any enrichment, citing recent private conversations with the president.

The original text of the resolution commends the Trump administration for engaging directly with the Iranians while calling out the regime’s “decades of cheating,” its “barbaric nature, and its open commitment to destroying the State of Israel,” all of which Graham says must be addressed in a deal. It affirms his support for the “complete dismantlement and destruction of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s entire nuclear program.”

The resolution also backs a subsequent agreement for peaceful nuclear cooperation, also known as a “123 Agreement,” requiring Tehran to adopt the International Atomic Energy Agency’s protocols for verification of nuclear safeguards and “forgo domestic uranium enrichment, the reprocessing of spent fuel, and the development or possession of any enrichment or reprocessing infrastructure or capacity.”

Speaking to JI on Tuesday, Graham said he has been engaging with the White House and Israeli leadership to ensure that all parties approve of the resolution’s language. The South Carolina senator said that he is in the process of making alterations to the resolution at the request of both sides.

“We’re working with the White House, they want some changes. I sent it to Israel, they want some changes,” Graham said. 

He says he hopes the resolution will receive a floor vote by next week, though he did not say if or when he plans to try to force floor consideration on it. 

“It’d be the most destabilizing thing in the world, I believe, if Iran ever acquired a nuclear weapon capability. I think the Sunni Arab world would want to go down that road also. You’d have a nuclear arms race in the Mideast, but more importantly to me, I think they would use it. I think if Iran had a nuclear weapon, they would use it as part of their radical religious regime,” Graham said at a press conference on his resolution last month. 

“The Ayatollah and his henchmen are virtual religious Nazis. They openly talk about destroying the State of Israel. They write it on the side of their missiles. And I believe them. I believe that they want to purify Islam, take over the holy sites in Saudi Arabia, wipe out the Jewish state and drive us out of the Mideast. And a nuclear weapon is part of that agenda. It’s not an insurance policy for regime survivability. It is a weapon to carry out one of the most extreme, religious ideas on the planet,” he continued. 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a close ally of President Donald Trump, called for a cautious and deliberate approach to removing sanctions on Syria and emphasized that Congress has a significant oversight role to play, hours after Trump announced he plans to lift “all” U.S. sanctions on Syria.

Graham’s statement on sanctions relief came as he touched down in Turkey for a trip aimed at evaluating the situation in Syria and appeared aimed at pumping the brakes on Trump’s sweeping declaration. Reactions from others on Capitol Hill to the news have been decidedly mixed across both parties.

Graham said that he’s “very inclined to support sanctions relief for Syria under the right conditions,” but also cautioned that the Syrian government took power through force.

“Waiving congressionally passed sanctions is a complicated process. While I would like to empower the new players in Syria, it has to be done in a coordinated fashion with our allies — especially our friends in Israel — so that numerous security concerns can be addressed,” Graham said in the statement.

“This newly formed government in Syria may be a good investment and could be the pathway to unifying Syria, making it a stable part of the region. However, there is a lot that must be learned before making that determination,” he continued. “A stable Syria would be a game changer for the region, but given its past, their progress must be evaluated closely.”

Graham highlighted that Congress has a role to play in any sanctions relief and noted that the administration must submit a report to Congress outlining substantive changes to the situation on the ground in Syria before its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism can be lifted.

“That report has not been received and Congress has the opportunity to review this action if it chooses,” Graham continued. “The designation of Syria as a state sponsor of terrorism has tremendous ramifications apart from the sanctions. I am certain that Congress would need to be informed of changes in conditions placed on Syria and how they have met those conditions before Congress can make an informed decision on whether or not it should approve the change in designation.”

Graham also noted that Israeli officials are “extremely concerned about the state of play in Syria,” and said that he plans to discuss those concerns and keep in close touch with Israeli officials during the trip, “so that we can fully understand the implications of sanctions waivers.”

He noted that attacks on Israel have been launched from Syria in the past. Israel has deployed troops to a buffer zone over the Syrian border and conducted strikes on military infrastructure in the country since the fall of the Assad regime.

Reactions from others on Capitol Hill have been mixed, across both parties.

Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who had pushed for phased, conditional sanctions relief for Syria, said he deferred to Trump’s decision on the issue without strongly endorsing it. He said he’d discussed the subject with Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior to Trump’s conversation with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

“It sounded as if they had some negotiations on it. He is the president of the United States and I respect his judgement,” Risch said.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who had joined with Risch in calling for conditional sanctions relief, praised Trump’s decision.

“I commend President Trump’s decision to lift all sanctions on Syria,” Shaheen said. “These sanctions succeeded in their original goal of aiding in the downfall of the brutal Assad regime. I welcome their removal now to give the new Syria a chance to develop into a free and prosperous state independent of the malign influence of Russia, Iran and China.”

She said the U.S. should “move expeditiously” to lift sanctions and “increase our engagement with the Syrian authorities” alongside allies and partners. 

“Stability and security in the heart of the Middle East will pay dividends for U.S. interests and along Syria’s borders, including for our friends in Israel, Lebanon, Türkiye, Iraq and Jordan,” Shaheen continued. “We must do all we can to ensure Syria continues to move in the direction of democracy, stability and security.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) fell closer to Graham’s view of the situation, emphasizing that Trump “has to come to Congress” and that sanctions relief should be conditional to achieve concessions from the Syrian government.

“He has no explanation for why he’s just unilaterally surrendering all of this leverage,” Blumenthal said. “For the guy who talks about the art of the deal, he’s gotten nothing for it in the way of any sort of guarantees about what the Syrian government’s going to do.”

He said that whether Congress would repeal the sanctions would depend on what the Syrian government commits to do.

“This regime is basically an unknown — a vast unknown — headed by someone who was regarded as a terrorist until just months ago,” Blumenthal said. “I want some more security guarantees and also other conditions.”