Sen. Lindsey Graham called for a full-scale U.S. military draft to escalate the Iran War into a boots on the ground invasion, claiming in a Fox News interview that every American service member should be willing to fight—and die—for Israel.
Graham has made himself the very loud and very public face of the war effort – look no further than his tour of the Sunday show circuit yesterday, in which the arch-neoconservative could readily be mistaken for any number of Israeli cabinet officials who are desperate to ignite World War 3 for their religious beliefs.
Graham appeared on the Sunday shows after Israel bombed several oil facilities and water desalination plants, igniting a massive firestorm in Tehran. As the flames engulfing the Iranian capital were being put out by toxic rains, Graham rejoiced, praising Netanyahu and saying: “Donald J. Trump saved the world from real chaos… Thank God Trump did this.”
On the joint war led by Israel and the US, Graham crowed that we should “just wait and see” what comes in the next two weeks.
“We’re going to blow the hell out of these people,” he pledged, baying for blood in what was a not-so-veiled encouragement of war crimes. “When this regime goes down, we’re going to have a new Mideast,” he imagined, adding in a moment of raw honesty: “We’re going to make a ton of money.” He noted that “Venezuela and Iran have 31% of the world’s oil reserves.”
Graham also bragged about colluding with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to manipulate President Donald Trump into invading Iran.
According to Graham, he spent months lobbying, holding private conversations with foreign leaders, and coordinating media pushes to persuade the president to authorize strikes against Iran. Graham told the Wall Street Journal that the campaign started just after Trump won the 2024 Presidential election, when the two went golfing.
The Journal reported that Graham would repeatedly harass senior White House aides to the point that they called him an “annoying crazy uncle.” Gramham also ran counter to Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who repeatedly pushed for a more peaceful resolution to the conflict.
“I said, ‘They don’t want to deal,’ ” Graham told the news outlet. “They’re not trying to buy a house. They’re trying to burn your house down.”
In the interview, Graham boasted about how he went to the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and revealed that the U.S. might begin attacks. “I went to MBS to say, ‘OK, I think this is going down.'” The South Carolina senator also met with Netanyahu and allegedly coached him on how to coax the president into launching an attack.
“They’ll tell me things our own government won’t tell me,” Graham said about one of many trips to Israel. Graham also revealed that he worked with retired Army Gen. Jack Keane and conservative columnist Marc Thiessen to make the bait irresistible.