Graham: ‘The World Will Never Be Safe as Long as the Ayatollah Is in Power’

Tuesday, during an appearance on FNC’s “Hannity,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned Iran was the driving force behind Hamas and the threat it poses against Israel.

The South Carolina Republican told FNC host Sean Hannity that Iran was “emboldened” by the weakness of the Biden administration.

Partial transcript as follows:

HANNITY: Senator, I want to go to the bigger picture and I certainly understand the sensitivity having Prime Minister Netanyahu on last night. He says, you know, there can be no victory without the destruction of Hamas. But if we’re going to really define victory, doesn’t Hezbollah have to be destroyed in the north? Doesn’t Iran at some on some level have to be dealt with?

You know, Joe Biden is offering, what, to free up another $10 billion while they are fomenting this war, while they are involved in the training of the terrorists on October the 7th, while they’re providing the munitions to fight these proxy wars. Joe Biden is freeing up $10 billion for the mullahs of Iran, you know, you know, beam me up, Scotty. There’s no intelligent life in that White House.

GRAHAM: Yeah. Well, I hope that’s not true. That’d be pouring gasoline on a fire. It’d be like giving the Germans $10 billion during World War II.

The root of all evil here is Iran. There is no Hamas without Iran. Ninety- three percent of their budget comes from the Iranian ayatollah. Hezbollah is a complete subsidiary of the Iranian ayatollah. So, at the end of the day, the Houthis survive on money from the ayatollah.

So here’s my belief, if the ayatollah continues to attack our troops in Syria and Iraq, they open up a new front with Hezbollah in the north against Israel. We should destroy the oil infrastructure of Iran so they can no longer be the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Biden wants to give them money. I want to knock them out of the oil business. I think if they believe that we would knock them out the oil business, they would stand down.

When Trump killed Soleimani, they went back in their box. When Reagan attacked the oil platform, Iran went back in their box. Biden’s weakness has led Iran out of the box, they’re trying to destroy Saudi Arabia and Israel reconciling. That’s why Hamas attacked Israel to get him into war, so they can’t try to reconcile with Saudi Arabia, which is a nightmare for Iran.

HANNITY: Let me ask you, let me tell you what happened today, and let me be very clear. Today, the Biden administration extended by four months a sanction waiver allowing Iraq to continue to purchase electricity that helps make Iran rich. And that gives Iran access to the money.

Now, Blinken signed the 120-day waiver. He says it’s for humanitarian purposes. I call total BS on that.

But that — there’s roughly $10 billion in Iraqi payments for Iranian electricity currently being held in escrow and accounts in Iraq and the waiver will now allow Baghdad to maintain their energy imports without fear of U.S. penalty. Why in the middle of this conflict — why now would Joe Biden enrich the Iranians that are behind all of this chaos, all of these proxy wars, all of the training and providing of all of the munitions? Why would they do this now?

GRAHAM: Well, it’s pretty clear to me that the model they’re embarking upon is to try to keep Iran close, reward them if they promise to do anything, whether they do it or not. We paid $6 billion for hostages and we got an attack by Hamas against Israel. The idea of trying to curry favor with the Iranians is not working. The only thing the ayatollah fears is a strong America. They’re really emboldened by Biden’s weakness.

If we give them $1 of money after the Hamas attack on Israel, you’ll get more attacks. So I miss Donald Trump. Donald Trump wouldn’t give Iran any money. He would put him in the corner and if they tried to do something to Americans, he would hit them militarily.

This is the most dangerous time since the 1930s before World War II. If Biden gives Iran money, he’s basically giving money religious Nazi.

HANNITY: Senator, they’re — Blinken already signed the waiver. They’re getting more money.

GRAHAM: Right. Yeah, well, there’s one thing. All I can say is you’re right. We have the wrong strategy here.

And let me just tell the people at home why does this matter to you. Israel is our best friend in the world. They give us information to protect our homeland. Five weeks after thousands of Hamas fighters went into Israel, put babies in ovens, rape women in front of their children, beheaded children and kidnapped Israeli citizens, the world is blaming Israel. This hospital is a legitimate military target now because Hamas has made it so.

I don’t want to hurt innocent Palestinians but I’ll tell you this, if bin Laden were underneath that hospital, al-Qaeda leadership was underneath that hospital, we’ have a hard time not taking decisive action.

So we live in a world upside down. Israel is the good guy. Hamas is the bad guy. And to those who say a Palestine from the river to the sea, that’s not free speech. That’s the destruction of Israel. We live in a world uh that is upside down.

To Israel, we have you back for eternity. How much should we help you? As much as you need as long as you need it is my belief and that’s what I will do as a senator in the United States Senate from South Carolina.

HANNITY: Last question. Should the refineries of Iran be taken out by Israel after this conflict is over, this immediate conflict? And does the world have to consider what — how different a place this world will be if in fact the mullahs in Iran get nuclear weapons which they have been trying to get and they’ve now formed alliances with China and Russia and North Korea? Which tells me the likelihood is greater than ever. We have about 20 seconds.

GRAHAM: The world will never be safe as long as the ayatollah is in power. The sooner his demise is reached, the better off we’ll all be. If they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. These people are religious Nazis. They’ve gotten away with too much, too long, and Israel’s paying the price.

We need a new strategy regarding the ayatollah.

HANNITY: All right. Senator Graham, thank you.

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