Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged President Donald Trump on Tuesday to allow Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities "while we can."
There is "zero chance" there will be a nuclear pact with Iran that would convince Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to abandon his ambitions to build the bomb, Graham said in a televised interview.
"The ayatollah is a religious Nazi; he will not take a deal and honor it," the senator declared when asked about offers by Russian President Vladimir Putin to assist Trump in brokering a deal with Tehran.
"Hitler didn't want to better Germany; he wanted to kill all the Jews, he wanted to take over the world," the American lawmaker said.
Graham said Khamenei "wants three things: to dominate Islam, to kill all the Jews, and [to] drive us out [of the Middle East].
"I don't think you can negotiate with this guy," he concluded, adding, "To President Trump: I encourage you to allow Israel to use military force to destroy their nuclear program while we can."
A Kremlin spokesperson confirmed reports Tuesday that Moscow had offered to assist Trump in communicating with the Islamic Republic on various issues, including its nuclear program and regional terrorism.
Russia believes the U.S. and Iran "should resolve all problems through negotiations," spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding Moscow "is ready to do everything in its power to achieve this."
The news came a day after Reuters reported that seven senior Russian missile specialists visited Iran over the past year, around the time of Iran's ballistic missile attacks on Israel. All seven were said to hold high rank in Russia's military, with two being lieutenant colonels.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office did not respond by press time when asked about Russia's offer to Trump by JNS on Wednesday afternoon.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar told Politico on Feb. 26 that a "reliable military option" could be required to deter the Iranian regime from taking the final steps toward acquiring nuclear weapons.
Israel's top diplomat said time was running out to act against Tehran's nuclear program, as it had enriched enough uranium for a "couple of bombs" and was now "playing with ways" to weaponize it.
Jerusalem still wants to pursue a diplomatic path, he said, adding that the chances of talks being successful were "not huge" and that a failure to stop Tehran would be a "catastrophe for the security of Israel."
Failure to take out Iran's nuclear program has the potential to trigger a "nuclear race in the Middle East with Egypt, Saudis, Turkey," said Sa'ar.
During a visit to Israel on Feb. 17, Graham told reporters that the prospect of Iran developing nuclear bombs keeps him up at night.
"This man [Khamenei] and his regime are hell-bent on three things: purifying Islam in their own image — the Sunni Arabs — destroying the Jewish state and driving every Westerner out of the Mideast," Graham said at a press conference.
"So every decision I make as a senator in this region is to make sure their nuclear ambitions are never met," he said.
This JNS.org report was reprinted on Newsmax by Jewish News Syndicate permission.
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