Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) questioned why President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are not condemning the United Nations for inviting Iran’s president to speak at the U.N. General Assembly, claiming the Middle Eastern country is trying to “undermine” the United States’s election process.
Graham’s accusation comes about a week after the FBI revealed that Iranian hackers stole information from former President Donald Trump’s campaign and passed it to Biden’s team. Graham, who has been very critical of Iran, argued the lack of objection from Biden and Harris is “the weakest response” the White House could have given.
“Who is destroying democracy? Well, I think the Iranians should pay a price for trying to undermine our election,” Graham said on Fox News’s Jesse Watters Primetime. “President Biden, what are you doing about this? Vice President Harris, could you speak up and tell the Iranians this is unacceptable?”
The South Carolina senator added that the “proper response” to Iran interfering with U.S. elections would be to hit the Middle Eastern country “hard” to ensure it does not interfere again. He also condemned the U.N.’s invitation to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to speak, comparing it to a scenario in which the Germans would be invited to speak to the League of Nations in the 1930s.
Graham is one of several Republicans calling on the Biden administration to focus its efforts on Iran, with Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) calling for “maximum pressure” to be placed on the country. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) has similarly called for the U.S. to focus on Iran instead of a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group as neither Iran nor Hamas is interested in peace as long as Iran is “flush with cash.”
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During his U.N. speech, Pezeshkian said Israel’s increased attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon “cannot go unanswered,” and he called countries to focus on a ceasefire in Gaza. The Iranian president’s comments come almost a year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing over 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250.
Following the Trump campaign hack, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) deemed Harris as Iran’s “preferred candidate” and demanded intelligence agencies such as the FBI find out how the campaign fell victim to cyberattacks. He has also asked for information on how future attacks will be prevented to stop foreign interference in U.S. elections.