Netanyahu says Lindsey Graham was ‘very clear’ about knocking out Iran’s nuclear program

International Netanyahu says Lindsey Graham was ‘very clear’ about knocking out Iran’s nuclear program Comments: by Ryan Mancini - 07/12/26 11:42 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Ryan Mancini - 07/12/26 11:42 AM ET Comments: Link copied

NOW PLAYING

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was “very clear” about knocking out Iran’s nuclear program prior to his death the night before.

“We removed this immediate and present danger of Iran with nuclear weapons that would’ve posed a danger to everybody,” Netanyahu told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” “And I think that Lindsey was unabashed. He talked to me about it. He said, ‘You know, you have to do it. You have to do it.’ He came to me and said, ‘Bibi, you have to do it. You have to knock out these nuclear weapons program before they knock us out.’ He was very clear about that.”

Netanyahu said Graham did what “he thought was good for America” and thought that a “strong Israel is good for a strong America, and vice versa, of course.” He added that Graham thought Iran “was a great danger not merely to Israel and to America’s allies in the Middle East, but to America itself.”

“And he just never wavered, you know?” Netanyahu continued. “He was so clear, he had clarity, he had courage, he had convictions that he believed were at the basis of America, that –– I always –– use it like the Superman comics, you remember ‘Freedom, justice and the American way?’ He represented these traditional values, and Kristen, he never flinched.”

Graham was a staunch defense hawk who had long called for the U.S. to strike Iran, claiming that it was a threat to Israel and to stability in the Middle East. Netanyahu praised Graham’s support for Israel, saying his country has lost “one of the great champions of the American-Israeli alliance.”

“Frankly, I’m in a state of shock,” Netanyahu told Welker. “Because as President Trump said, Lindsey was so vibrant. He was so full of life. He was so full of energy and dedication that it’s hard to accept the fact that he is no more. I think America has lost a great patriot.”

Graham’s death comes days after Trump said the fragile interim deal with Iran appears to be “over,” with Iran announcing that the Strait of Hormuz is again closed after Iran’s military fired at the Cyprus-flagged container ship GFS Galaxy for using an “unauthorized route.” The attack and closure prompted a third round of U.S. strikes.

After the initial U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, Graham became a frequent defender of the conflict and he believed the interim peace deal between the U.S. and Iran would fail. Last month, Graham told CBS News’s “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan that the U.S. “would have to go to war” or another form of “coercion” of the interim deal did not hold.

“Let’s try this, let’s try a diplomatic solution,” Graham added, referring to the interim deal. “I think it’s going to fail.”

Add as preferred source on Google Tags Benjamin Netanyahu Donald Trump Kristen Welker Lindsey Graham Margaret Brennan

Comments: Link copied