Graham: If Iran Rebuffs Trump, Israel Should ‘Use Force’ to Stop Nuclear Program

As strains appear to be forming between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu due to the White House’s stalled talks over the Islamist regime’s nuclear program, a prominent senator is insisting that the U.S. must support Israel carrying out strikes against Tehran’s nuclear facilities unless they are completely dismantled voluntarily.

Following a fourth round of talks between the U.S. and Iran that ended without progress on Sunday, Netanyahu signaled that his government may distance itself from the Trump administration after being snubbed from participating in the negotiations. According to reporters on the ground in Israel, Netanyahu and many others in the Jewish state are also concerned that Iran is pulling the Trump administration into the same never-ending negotiation games that it did with previous administrations.

“[T]he Iranians are masters at negotiating, masters at prolonging the talks,” CBN News Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Mitchell pointed out during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Monday. “All the while, they continue to enrich uranium to near military grade and continue their nuclear program. That’s exactly the concern that many people have here in Israel at the very beginning of these negotiations. … They were talking about enriching uranium. Well, here in Israel, they felt there was no point talking about enriching uranium. The point is, you want to dismantle and destroy the Iranian nuclear infrastructure, period, just like they did in Libya back in 2003 and 2004. So, yeah, the Iranian negotiations are deeply concerning here.”

However, Trump struck a forceful tone regarding Iran during a foreign policy speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, remarking that he “want[s] to make a deal with Iran. … I’ll be very happy if we’re going to make your region and the world a safer place. But if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure [and] drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before.”

“Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,” the president continued. “But with that said, Iran can have a much brighter future. This is an offer that will not last forever. The time is right now for them to choose. … Things are happening at a very fast pace.”

According to Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), that “maximum pressure” must lead to the complete dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program.

“[H]ere’s what it should look like,” he made clear during “This Week on Capitol Hill” over the weekend. “President Trump said this past Sunday [that] dismantlement is his goal. They have three enrichment sites. They have been at levels to create six bombs. They have a civilian nuclear power plant, and the fuel is supplied by Russia. Here’s what most people don’t know. Of all the uranium they enriched, they haven’t used any of it in their civilian reactor. They’re literally stockpiling uranium to make bombs. So you’ve got to get all that out. You’ve got to dilute it down and take it out of Iran. You’ve got to close up the enrichment facilities. That is an outcome we could live with because [Iran] can’t make a bomb without enrichment. Shut down their path to [a] bomb. I hope that will happen.”

Graham, who serves on four Senate committees and is chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, further acknowledged that Iran is unlikely to agree to a full dismantlement of their nuclear capabilities, but maintained that the Trump administration should still pursue it while also empowering Israel to take military action if necessary.

“[N]o one’s ever offered them that deal with clarity and with strength,” he argued. “If you dismantle, you get out of the nuclear enrichment business, you can have peaceful nuclear power. We will ensure you have spent fuel rods, but they won’t be made in Iran. That way they can’t make a bomb. If they don’t take this deal within weeks or months, then we should get behind Israel to use military force to stop their march toward a nuclear weapon.”

“I trust Trump to get this right because we can’t get it wrong,” Graham added. “… I think President Trump is the right guy at the right time.”

Graham went on to underscore how the Islamist regime in Tehran is the lynchpin to the multitude of existential threats that Israel continues to face. “[The] Houthis attacking Israel … and our ships are only possible because of Iran. The Houthis don’t have the capability there to generate these missiles. Iran provides it. So if you deal with Iran, you’re going to deal with the Houthis, you’re going to deal with Hamas and Hezbollah.”

The senator further contended that among all the potential rogue nations and leaders in the world that have nuclear capabilities, Iran remains a singular threat.

“I don’t believe India and Pakistan want to blow each other up,” he observed. “… Rocket man in Korea — he has a nuclear weapon, but I don’t think he’s going to attack America with it. And Putin threatens nuclear activity, but he’s not suicidal, nor is China. The point I’m trying to make is there’s one group of people that [if] they had a nuclear weapon, they would use it. That’s Iran. They threatened the existence of Israel. They want the holy sites in Saudi Arabia to be under their control, not Sunni Arab control. And they’re serious about it. They’re religious Nazis. Do you doubt al-Qaeda would use a nuclear weapon if they had one? There’s no difference between al-Qaeda and the Ayatollah in terms of religious extremism.”

As for those on the Right who argue for strict American isolationism with regard to Middle East affairs, Graham highlighted the unique nature of Israel in both political and biblical history.

“[Isolationists] don’t understand history,” he posited. “They don’t understand the dynamic around Israel that led to its founding. The Jewish state was formed out of the ashes of the Holocaust. It’s been under constant siege. And here’s my theory about that. The closer you are to God, the more the world hates you, and God has designated the Jewish people as the chosen people. Because of that designation, throughout history, they’ve been pilloried, they’ve been attacked and oppressed because I think the closer you are to God, the more the world hates you. And we have to make a choice as Americans. And I’m going to stand with Israel.”

AUTHOR

Dan Hart

Dan Hart is senior editor at The Washington Stand.

EDITORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2025 Family Research Council.

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