Lindsey Graham Warns a Deal With Iran Would Be Dangerous

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said a possible agreement with Iran would be deeply problematic, reacting to details reported around the deal. He said the idea of a $300 billion reconstruction fund while Iran's current rulers remain in power "sounds detached from reality," and added that he was glad to hear President Donald Trump say Iranian media reports about the supposed deal were false, because the agreement as described by Tehran would be "a very bad deal."

Graham praised Trump and the U.S. military for pushing Iran to what he called its weakest point since 1979. He said that result came through "a combination of highly effective military strikes and a suffocating siege." He also launched a fierce attack on the Iranian regime, calling its leaders "religious extremists with a Nazi worldview."

The senator warned that a $300 billion reconstruction fund would be like "the Marshall Plan for Germany while the Nazis are still in power." He stressed that Trump's red line "was and remains zero enrichment," and said he hoped that principle would be maintained. Graham added that allowing Iran to enrich uranium under a nuclear deal was one of the major failures of that earlier agreement.

He concluded that any future deal with Iran must be submitted to the U.S. Congress "for review and approval."