Any escalation by Hezbollah against Israel that leads to a major confrontation should be viewed as an attack carried out and executed by Iran, according to a resolution South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduced on Wednesday.
According to the resolution, the Senate “asserts that efforts to deter Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran are most credible when the President keeps all options on the table, including military force.”
The resolution holds Iran and Hezbollah responsible for “any adverse impacts on the people of Lebanon that result from an attack on the State of Israel by Hezbollah” and also urges Congress and the President to use “all diplomatic tools and power projection capabilities” to hold both Iran and Hezbollah accountable.
Graham also introduced an Authorization for Use of Military Force which would authorize the use of US Armed Forces against Iran for threatening the national security of the US through the development of nuclear weapons.
The resolution would authorize the use of military force by the United States to stop an Iranian nuclear breakout.
According to Graham, the resolution would be triggered if the president determines that Iran possesses uranium enriched to the weapons-grade level of a nuclear warhead and possesses a delivery vehicle capable of delivering a nuclear device against Israel, other allies, or the United States.
“Iran will keep going until somebody tells them to stop,” Graham told reporters during a news conference he called on Wednesday afternoon. “It is time to put red lines on their nuclear program.”
Graham said he believes “it is a certainty” that if the US doesn’t change course, Iran will possess a nuclear weapon within weeks or months.
Graham called the Director of National Intelligence’s report on the status of the Iranian nuclear program “unnerving.”
“Their ability to enrich to weapons grade is now a matter of weeks, not months,” Graham said. “Their ability to weaponize the material has advanced, and it is now time for Congress to lend their voice to the proper response.”
Not only should Israel hold Iran accountable for any escalation by Hezbollah, the United States should do the same, according to Graham, with vital facilities like oil refineries on the target list.
‘It is time to hit the Ayatollah in the pocketbook’
“If Hezbollah attacks Israel, my hope is that they will have one less refinery than they do today,” he said. “It is time to hit the Ayatollah in the pocketbook. Oil refineries are the lifeblood of his regime. Without those refineries, they would not be able to fund terrorism.”
“Israel is not the bad guy here,” Graham said, adding it’s time to hold Iran accountable for their proxies.
“Hezbollah was the agent of the attack, on October 7, the slaughtering of 1,200 Jews was done by the Iranians to Hamas,” Graham said. “So our friends in Israel, if you’re hit by Hezbollah, strike hard, strike lethal and include Iran on the target list.”
Iran cannot use its proxies in Lebanon without facing reprisals in Iran itself, Graham said.
According to Graham, he has the support of his Republican colleagues, and he hopes some Democrats as well.
“Why am I saying this? Because I think if we don’t do something decisive now, it’s going to get far worse, quick,” Graham said. “I believe that we’re on the verge of a major conflict over the Iran nuclear program.”
Israel will be forced to act in a decisive manner sooner rather than later, Graham added.
“It’s time to reset,” the senator said.
Graham, who met with American hostage families last week in DC ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address before Congress, said the best way to get the hostages released is to make the cost of doing business too high for Iran.
The senator said he still thinks it’s possible to have a ceasefire and have the hostages released, and Israel’s actions in Iran on Tuesday are a “continuation of a policy that served the Jewish state well.”
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