South Carolina Senator and Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham said the Iran deal was “a death sentence for the state of Israel” and “empowering” “religious Nazis” on Tuesday’s “CNN Newsroom.”

Graham began by stating, “What we’ve done, is we’ve ensured they become a nuclear power. At the passage of time, without behavior changes, we’ve locked in an industrial-strength nuclear program. By the mere passage of time, they can have a bigger program. They don’t want a power plant, they want a bomb. So, every Arab nation is going to have to say the following: ‘About 15 years from now, they’ll have a nuclear weapon, we better get started on ours.'”

He later added, “it doesn’t have the capability, at this point, to make a bomb because of — the sanctions have been crippling, but they still destabilize the region under crippling sanctions, they topple four Arab capitals under sanctions, they’re going to get $18 billion under this deal. What do you think they’re going to do with the money, they’re going to put it in their war machine. This is a death sentence for the state of Israel if this does not change, because you’re ensuring the Ayatollah will get a nuclear weapon. He doesn’t want a power plant, he wants a bomb, we’ve locked in a pathway for a bomb. That’s exactly what we’ve done, and every Arab nation is going to say, ‘We want a nuke of our own now.'” And “You’re taking religious Nazis and empowering this regime at a time when we should be neutering this regime.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett