Congress’s leading warhawk, Lindsey Graham, is growing jittery with fear that President Donald Trump could extend the ceasefire with Iran.
The South Carolina senator lobbed a carefully worded warning in Trump’s direction on Tuesday.
“I hope speculation and rumors about yet another extension of the ceasefire to reach a deal with Iran are off base,” Graham, 70, wrote on X.
“To me, President Trump’s position is clear. I fear the Iranians will play the same old game they always play, dragging things out by doing things like making menial concessions.”
The MAGA senator had spent months pushing Trump towards the war, and appeared skeptical at best when the president announced the two-week ceasefire and peace talks with Iran last week, saying he wants a thorough congressional review process of any deal.
But Vice President JD Vance failed to seal the deal after 21 hours of negotiations with Iranian officials over the weekend, with Iran refusing to abandon its nuclear program and several other sticking points left unresolved.
Since then, Trump has sought to ramp up pressure by blockading the Strait of Hormuz, while signaling openness to further talks. He told the New York Post on Tuesday that peace talks “could be happening over the next two days.”
But Graham, who had giddily declared, “We’re going to blow the hell out of these people,” at the start of the war, appears worried that Iran could extract major concessions in talks. Iran’s regime now has new leverage due in part to its control over the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of global oil shipments flow.
The MAGA senator posted a wish list of non-negotiables while trying to pass them off as the president’s position.
“I believe the bottom line for President Trump is,” Graham began, before listing “no enrichment,” “American control” of Iran’s highly enriched uranium, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz “without interference from Iran.”
He also said Iran must “abandon its long-range ballistic missile program and any effort to develop a nuclear weapon,” as well as “cease support for all terrorists [sic] proxies in the region.”
“This would allow Iran to exist as a nation but not as the largest state sponsor of terrorism,” he said.
The bloodthirsty senator concluded, “If there is no deal, it is time to finish the job,” without explaining what that would entail.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump had threatened “a whole civilization will die tonight” before agreeing to a last-minute ceasefire with Iran last week.
On Tuesday, Graham said, “I’m actually OK with the way he’s talking to a bunch of terrorists. I couldn’t care less what words he uses.”
“As to delaying the negotiations or extending the ceasefire, that could be a mistake,” he said.
