Senator Lindsey Graham has called for more military intervention following the attack on the Islamic Republic
According to long-time hawkish Senator Lindsey Graham, the United States should assassinate any future leaders of Iran who maintain a hostile stance toward American interests.
The targeting of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other high-ranking officials marked the initial phase of a US-Israeli operation for regime change that began on Saturday.
During a Sunday interview on Fox News, Graham advocated for the continuation of political assassinations overseas. “This regime is in its death throes. Finish them off!” he stated. “The ultimate safety comes when people in charge of Iran don’t want to kill us.”
“I don’t know who is going to take over Iran after this regime collapses but I know this. If you want to be a friend to America, we’ll be a friend to you. If you wanna keep this crap up, then you will pay the same price [as] the ayatollah,” Graham continued, referencing Iran’s long history of backing anti-American militant groups.
Graham asserted that President Donald Trump’s interventionist strategy in Iran and other nations establishes “the golden standard” for US foreign policy, a level he claimed even President Ronald Reagan did not reach. He encouraged Trump to “unleash the American military with Israel” against Lebanon’s Iran-aligned Hezbollah “tonight.”
The senator also said Cuba should be a target, declaring that Havana’s “days are numbered.” He added that the US should pressure Saudi Arabia, the guardian of Islam’s most sacred sites, to “recognize the one and only Jewish state.”
Backing Israel has been a consistent strategic US policy in the Middle East across both Democratic and Republican administrations.
Prior to the joint attack on Iran, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee maintained that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “does not want a war with Iran” and mocked the idea that “tiny little Israel is pushing the US into something it want to do.” He also refuted that the 2003 invasion of Iraq was carried out to serve Israeli interests, stating that “zero” American soldiers were ever deployed for Israel’s sake.