‘Simply Brilliant!’ Lindsey Graham Gets Back in Line Just Days After Rare Skepticism of Trump on Iran Deal

Sipa via AP Images

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) hailed President Donald Trump’s demand Gulf states join the Abraham Accords as part of any agreement to end the Iran war as “simply brilliant” on Monday, just days after expressing skepticism about the president’s deal.

The South Carolina Republican, one of Trump’s most loyal cheerleaders in backing the conflict, enthusiastically praised the president’s proposed “mandatory” clause, which he claimed “would result in the most significant change in the Middle East in thousands of years.”

Earlier Monday Trump had taken to Truth Social to announce that negotiations with Tehran were “proceeding nicely” as talks continue over extending a ceasefire, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and addressing Iran’s nuclear program.

The president said that he’d been on a call with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the UAE: “I stated that, after all the work done by the United States to try and pull this very complex puzzle together, it should be mandatory that all of these Countries, at a minimum, simultaneously, sign onto the Abraham Accords.”

The Abraham Accords, brokered during Trump’s first term, established normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in a landmark realignment aimed at reshaping political and economic alliances across the Middle East.

Graham has long been one of Israel’s most hawkish defenders in Congress, consistently backing U.S. support for the Israeli government, tougher sanctions on its enemies and expanded military cooperation in the region.

The senator’s praise marked a sharp pivot in tone from comments made just two days earlier when he expressed serious skepticism about the kind of deal the president was negotiating.

On Saturday he warned that a deal leaving Iran with leverage over the Strait of Hormuz would be “a nightmare for Israel.”

“This combination of Iran being perceived as having the ability to terrorize the Strait in perpetuity,” Graham wrote Saturday, “is a major shift of the balance of power in the region.”

Trump’s Monday announcement, however, appears to have tilted the senator back on side.

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