Lindsey Graham, the veteran Republican senator who has been pushing for war against Iran for decades, has issued a dire warning to the Iranian government, saying it was worth spending money to “overthrow this regime.”
“When this regime falls, we will have a new Middle East and we are going to make a ton of money,” Graham, a longtime advocate of US military intervention abroad, told Fox News on Sunday.
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Graham, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of Israel and the war against Iran during the Trump administration, appeared to suggest that the United States’ kidnapping of Venezuela’s leftist leader Nicolás Maduro and the attack on Iran were launched to gain control over each country’s oil supplies.
“Venezuela and Iran have 31 percent of the world’s oil reserves. We are going to have a partnership with 31 percent of the known reserves. This is China’s nightmare. It is a good investment,” Graham said.
The United States wants to “divide the country and keep the oil”
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Monday accused the United States of trying to take control of Iran’s oil resources.
“Their design is clear, their enterprise is quite obvious: they aim to divide our country to take illegal possession of our oil wealth,” he said. “Their goal is to violate our sovereignty, defeat our people and undermine our humanity.”
The US-Israeli attacks on Tehran, Graham said, will intensify further in the next two weeks. The United States was going to “blow these people up,” Graham said, adding that “no one will threaten (the United States) in the Strait of Hormuz again.”
“This regime is dying now, it will be on its knees, it will fall, and when it falls we are going to have peace like never before, we are going to have prosperity like no one could ever imagine,” Graham told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo.
After the joint US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, Graham was one of many Republicans who expressed support.
“An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a terrible threat to all Americans,” US President Donald Trump said on March 2.
The Trump administration justified the attacks by claiming that Iran posed an imminent threat, a claim that experts said was legally unfounded and an abuse of international law.
The war has also caused oil prices to surpass $100, hurting the global economy, as well as prompting Iranian retaliatory attacks on Gulf nations hosting U.S. military assets. Oil and gas production has been affected, fuel tankers have been stranded and airspace in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has been closed amid Iranian attacks.
Several weeks before the latest war in the Middle East began, Graham made numerous trips to Israel to meet with members of Mossad, the country’s intelligence agency.
“They’ll tell me things that our own government won’t tell me,” Graham said.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Graham also spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during these trips, “coaching him on how to pressure the president (Trump) to act.”
Netanyahu then showed Trump intelligence that “persuaded” him to launch the joint war against Iran, the US senator said. Israel has been pressuring the United States to go to war against Iran for decades, alleging that Tehran planned to build nuclear bombs. Iran has reiterated that its nuclear program is for civilian purposes and that it has no weapons ambitions.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has stated that there is currently no evidence or indication of a systematic and ongoing program to produce a nuclear weapon by Iran.
Previous US administrations stayed away from military action. President Barack Obama signed a nuclear deal in 2015 that curbed Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. However, Netanyahu opposed the deal. Trump withdrew from the agreement in 2018 during his first term.
Graham supported almost all Middle East wars
Graham, considered one of the most hawkish senators, has backed nearly every military intervention in the Middle East over the past two decades, including the disastrous 2003 Iraq war that devastated the country. More than 270,000 Iraqi civilians died as a direct result of the war.
The United States invaded Iraq in 2003, causing the country to fall into political chaos and giving rise to armed groups such as Al Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). US troops partially withdrew in 2009, although some remained to train Iraqi security forces.
Graham also supported military interventions in Syria and Libya, which devastated both countries. Libya is still divided, controlled by two competing factions, while Syria’s transitional government has been able to extend control over most of the country under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who became the de facto leader after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024. More than 300,000 people were killed and about half of the country’s population was displaced, sparking a refugee crisis that reached Europe.
During his interview, Graham called on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to launch attacks against Iran. “Yes. I want them to get into the fight. We sell them weapons. Iran is attacking their country; they have good capabilities.”
In retaliation for the US and Israeli attacks, Iran launched major missile and drone strikes against Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, targeting US military bases and critical infrastructure.
Graham’s interview also suggested that the White House could turn its attention to Cuba.
“See this hat? ‘Free Cuba’. Stay tuned. The liberation of Cuba is upon us. We are marching around the world. We are eliminating the bad guys. Cuba is next.”
Trump and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, have made no secret of their desire to bring about a change of government in Havana, which has been under a U.S. trade embargo for decades after Fidel Castro led the revolution that overthrew the pro-American dictator in 1959.
Washington restored ties with Havana in 2015 during Obama’s presidency, but Trump reversed the policy during his first term as president.
