Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Sunday called for more U.S. military action in Iran, saying the ongoing stalemate in the war is “hurting us all.”
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“I think the status quo is hurting us all. The longer the [Strait of Hormuz] is closed, the more we try to pursue a deal that never happens, the stronger Iran gets,” Graham told NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
Graham added that so far in the Iran conflict, “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.”
He called on President Donald Trump to, “weaken them further.”
“What President Trump has done has been amazing militarily, but there’s more targets to be had, and there’s things we can do to hurt [Iran],” the South Carolina senator said.
Graham’s comments come amid a pause in negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, which have not yet led to a deal to end the war.
And the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial maritime passageway for oil tankers, has sent global oil prices soaring, raising gas prices for Americans, too. The average price of unleaded gas in the U.S. is up 51% since the U.S. first took military action against Iran, more than two months ago.
On Sunday, the South Carolina senator told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, “here’s the good news: gas prices will come down when you put Iran in a box.”
On Friday, Iran’s foreign minister said the nation’s leaders have “no trust” in American negotiators.
His comments came the same day Trump returned to the U.S. from a trip to China, where he met for a multi-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The U.S. president told Fox News’ Bret Baier that he didn’t ask Chinese leaders for “help” regarding Iran.
“[Xi] agrees with me that he wants to see it end. He’d like to see it end. He would like to help,” Trump said. “If he wants help, that’s great, but we don’t need help. And you know the problem with help, when somebody helps you, they always want something on the other side. That’s the way help works.”
The president also faced criticism last week for saying that he’s considering Americans’ financial situations “not even a little bit,” when negotiating an end to the conflict with Iran. The comments sparked fears among Republicans over the upcoming midterm elections.
On Sunday, Graham dismissed concerns about the impact of the Iran conflict on the midterms, telling Welker, “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.”
The senator’s comments echoed what Trump told Baier last week, saying, “I’m not going to let the election determine what’s going to happen with respect to Iran, because they cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
The president also said that he knew his actions in Iran would “screw up” polling numbers for Republicans running for reelection in the midterms, as some GOP lawmakers grapple with how closely they should align with Trump on the campaign trail.
“I said to my people, I hate to do this to you, but I’m going to screw up your numbers for a little while, because we have to stop the nuclear weapon stuff with Iran, because they’re nuts,” Trump told Baier last week.
