South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham denounced President Obama Wednesday for saying Iranian hardliners and his Republican critics had made “common cause.”
In an interview on “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” Graham called Obama “delusional, naive and uninformed,” adding that the nuclear agreement is a bad deal because “nobody” thinks the president will “use military force to stop the Iranians.”
“Senator, how long have you served in the uniform of the United States?” Hewitt asked Graham.
“I retired last month after 33 years,” the 2016 Republican presidential candidate responded.
“So you’ve just been compared to the Iranians chanting ‘death to America’ by the president of the United States,” Hewitt said. “What do you think about that?”
“It just shows you how delusional, naive and uninformed our president is about the world,” Graham replied. “This is the man who tells you Iran, the deal with Iran is good.”
“At what point and time will we all realize he doesn’t know what he’s talking about?” Graham asked. “There are no hardliners and moderates division inside of Iran’s government. The moderates were killed in the streets in 2009, while Obama sat on the sidelines and did nothing.”
“If you ratify this deal, and you don’t change it over time, Iran’s going to have a nuclear weapon, a missile to deliver it and money to pay for it,” Graham explained. “That President Obama has grossly mishandled the Mideast from ISIL down to Iran, and we need a commander in chief who can straighten this mess out.”
Graham said that while Obama’s track record on the Middle East is “horrible,” with the Iran deal “the worst is yet to come.”
“The ayatollah runs everything. You know why they call him the supreme leader? Because he is,” Graham said.
“You know why the deal is so bad?” Graham asked. “The Iranians understand that Barack Obama would never use the military option in their wildest dreams. They don’t worry about Obama hitting them after Assad. Nobody believes he’s going to use military force to stop the Iranians.”
Obama made the comparison Graham was criticizing in a speech to promote the Iran nuclear deal Wednesday.
“It’s those hardliners chanting ‘death to America’ who’ve been most opposed to the deal,” Obama said. “They’re making common cause with the Republican caucus.”
