1:55 p.m. EDT, July 12, 2026

Graham was an outspoken supporter of regime change in Iran

By Max Saltman

Sen. Lindsey Graham speaks during a demonstration by the Iranian opposition on February 14, 2026, at the Theresienwiese fairgrounds in Munich, Germany, on the sidelines of the 62nd Munich Security Conference. Michaela Stache/AFP/Getty Images

Sen. Lindsey Graham was a longtime outspoken critic of Iran’s government and supporter of regime change in Tehran.

As far back as 2010, Graham argued that the United States ought to “neuter the regime’s ability to wage war” if Iran refused to halt its nuclear program.

In the weeks leading up to the war that began this year, the senator had publicly and privately urged President Donald Trump to attack Tehran.

“We are on the verge of eliminating the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the region,” Graham told reporters in Tel Aviv on February 16, less than two weeks before the US and Israel launched strikes. “The economy is in shambles, the military is degraded, Iranian people in the streets are demanding an end to the oppression.”

The senator added that he was “confident the US and Israel have the capability to deliver a decisive blow to the Iranian regime.”

When the war broke out in earnest, Graham called it “long justified” in a social media post.

“God bless President Trump, our military and our allies in Israel,” Graham wrote. “Freedom for the long-suffering Iranian people.”

Graham’s forceful advocacy for action in Iran did not go unnoticed by the regime, and Iranian state media newscasters appeared cheerful as they announced his death this morning.

For his part, the senator reacted with wry amusement to some of the derision he received from Tehran. When mourners at the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s funeral last week carried placards with Graham’s face in a targeting reticle, the senator responded, “At least they used a good photo of me. Judge me by my enemies.”

1:34 p.m. EDT, July 12, 2026