Graham: Trump Will ‘Destroy' Iran's Economy If They Defy His Demands
Republican outlines Trump's intentions on Iran
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South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham said the notion that Iran intentionally missed its targets in its missile attack is false before warning that if the country fails to meet President Donald Trump's demands he will “destroy their economy.”
Speaking with Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Graham said:
“If there’s the conflict with Iran it will be because they choose the conflict."
"The president gave them an out. I want you to do three things, I want you to change your behavior; stop being the largest state sponsor of terrorism, that’s not too much to ask; stand down your missile program because you’re destabilizing the entire Mid East, and you can have a nuclear power program, but you can’t have a pathway to a bomb.”
“Those are the three conditions that the president has laid down,” Graham told Hannity.
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“Iran can meet the conditions if they want to. If they choose to defy President Trump, if they choose to try to get a nuclear weapon, have a nuclear breakout, if they choose to try to kill Americans in the future, they are basically writing their own death warrant," he added.
"Donald Trump will destroy their economy. He will not invade with land forces but the ayatollah’s regime will come to a fiery end if they do not meet the conditions set out by President Trump.”
On Wednesday during a White House press conference, Trump revealed that the Obama Administration sent billions of dollars to Iran which was used to fund Iranian missiles and terrorism.
Trump said during the short statement that "the previous administration" sent over $150 billion to Iran, which the regime has used to "create hell" by financing its attacks against Americans and other middle eastern nations.
FULL TRANSCRIPT BELOW
HANNITY: You believe beyond any doubt they were trying to kill Americans. There was some ambiguity on that. Tell us why you believe that.
GRAHAM: A third-grader can figure this out. They are overrunning the embassy. They killed a contractor a couple of days before. Suleimani has been killing Americans were 20 years. He’s on the ground in Baghdad.
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HANNITY: But, they missed their target last night.
GRAHAM: I’m sorry, I thought you were talking on if we had good Intel on Suleimani. Suleimani was up to no good. He was planning an attack. A third-grader could figure that out.
Last night, I always believed they were trying to kill Americans.
If you launch missiles inside an airbase, what’s the intended consequence? To kill people inside the airbase. We’re lucky, we moved our people out. We had four-hours notice. I think it is more fortune than it was lack of intent.
But here’s the good news: the president made a very bold decision today to allows things to calm down. This speech will be talked about long after his second term.
This is on par with “tear down this wall Mr. Gorbachev. This is resetting the relationship between the world and Iran, not just the United States. The president said there’s an evil empire in Iran that’s bent on destroying the world and killing the people in Israel and coming after us and I will no longer tolerate it. This is on par with Reagan’s tear down this wall speech.
HANNITY: There’s a day of reckoning. We know radicalism and we discussed this some detail last night, A-squared, B squared, C squared.
Radicalism with nuclear weapons equals the potential for a modern-day Holocaust.
We can’t ever let that as a world happen. Let’s assume Iranians mullahs cling to their rigid, sick, twisted, ugly, evil ideology, that would mean that the world has a day of reckoning ahead.
With the Intelligence, if we ever get to the point, they’re getting close, that has to go.
GRAHAM: If there’s the conflict with Iran it will be because they choose the conflict.
The president gave them an out.
I want you to do three things, I want you to change your behavior; stop being the largest state sponsor of terrorism, that’s not too much to ask; Stand down your missile program because you’re destabilizing the entire Mid East, and you can have a nuclear power program, but you can’t have a pathway to a bomb.
Those are the three conditions that the president has laid down. Iran can meet the conditions if they want to.
If they choose to defy President Trump, if they choose to try to get a nuclear weapon, have a nuclear breakout, if they choose to try to kill Americans in the future, they are basically writing their own death warrant.
Donald Trump will destroy their economy. He will not invade with land forces but the ayatollah’s regime will come to a fiery end if they do not meet the conditions set out by President Trump.
