Lindsey Graham Denounces Wars 'Every Year,' Then Urges Biden to Attack Iran

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has urged President Joe Biden to launch attacks on Iran’s oil refineries, while also lamenting that a war has started “every year” that the president has been in office.

During a Wednesday night appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, Graham warned that “we’re going to have a war with Iran in 2024,” shortly after encouraging Biden to take out Iran’s oil infrastructure in retaliation for an Iranian-backed militia recently killing three U.S. service members in Jordan.

The Context

Biden has been under increasing pressure to strike Iran following Sunday’s deadly drone attack on American troops stationed near Jordan’s border with Syria. The president said on Tuesday that he had decided on the U.S. response but did not provide any details of the plan.

Graham is one of several Republicans who have called for the response to include a direct attack on Iran, with the South Carolina senator arguing earlier this week that “the only thing the Iranian regime understands is force,” in a post to X, formerly Twitter.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham is shown on January 17, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Graham on Wednesday night called on President Joe Biden to attack Iranian oil refineries while also criticizing the president for a war…

Kent Nishimura/Getty

What We Know

Graham told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday night that “the only way” Iran would “stop killing American troops” would be if the president decided to “hit their oil infrastructure and start killing their soldiers inside of Iran.”

“I’m not asking to invade Iran,” Graham said. “But I’m calling on President Biden tonight: Go to the source of the problem. If you don’t hit the Iranian oil infrastructure, and hit them in the wallet and make them fear you, they’re gonna keep killing our soldiers.”

During the same appearance, Graham suggested that the attack would not have happened under former President Donald Trump because “Iran was afraid of Trump,” lamenting that the U.S. had “lost deterrence” during the Biden administration.

“In 2021, the Taliban took over Afghanistan,” said Graham. “In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. In 2023, Hamas attacked Israel. In 2024, they’re attacking ships in the Red Sea. Biden has been a disaster. In his first three years, every year a war has started.”

Graham went on to predict that Iran would “break out the nuclear bomb” later this year with the intent to attack Israel, adding that “we’re gonna have a war with Iran in 2024 over their efforts to get a bomb.”

Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House via email on Wednesday night.

Views

During a CNN interview on Tuesday, Democratic Representative Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey dismissed demands for a quick retaliatory strike on Iran as “macho” posturing that could “draw the United States” deeper into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East.

“I think that we have to be very careful here,” Sherrill said. “Sure, it feels good, it feels macho to say that we are going to destroy our enemies, but at this time, what the United States often does best is not simply go in half-cocked but rather gather our allies … and back down those who would create this instability.”

John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-critic, told Newsweek earlier on Wednesday that Iran had been emboldened in the region because “they see a Biden administration absolutely paralyzed with fear.”

What’s Next?

While the exact nature of Biden’s planned response to the U.S. soldiers’ deaths remains unknown, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday that the administration was “not looking for a war with Iran.”

The White House has already imposed new sanctions that target the financial networks of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian-backed Lebanese militia group Hezbollah. Military options include direct strikes on Iran and attacks on bases that are used by Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander-in-chief Hossein Salami warned on Wednesday that any retaliation from the U.S. would not “be left unanswered.”