What War Hawk Graham Said About Iran and His Efforts To Help Ukraine

As news of Lindsey Graham’s death broke on Sunday, Ukraine’s president was one of the first leaders to eulogize the longtime South Carolina senator.

He was “a true defender of freedom and the values that make our world safer,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Graham was at once a staunch advocate for Ukraine in a White House sometimes hostile to Kyiv, a fervent supporter of Israel and a fierce proponent of the U.S.’s war against Iran since the conflict started roughly four and a half months ago.

One of President Donald Trump’s closest allies in later years, the Republican straddled an unusual line between the “America First,” isolationist stance of the administration and pushing for using U.S. military force overseas.

Graham died on Saturday after what his office described as a “brief and sudden illness.” He was 71.

The preliminary cause of death was an aortic dissection, the District of Columbia medical examiner said on Sunday, referring to a tear in the artery that carries blood from the heart.

Tributes quickly poured in for the longtime Senator, including from Trump, who hailed the veteran lawmaker as “one of the greatest people and Senators I have ever known.”

Several Democrats expressed their sadness at Graham’s death, including Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, who remarked: “Lindsey and I did not see eye to eye on many issues, but he was a consequential voice and gifted communicator.”

“He was willing to work across the aisle, sometimes at political risk, to advance policies he believed in, like the defense of Ukraine,” Reed continued.

“America and the world have lost a determined leader,” Zelensky said.

What Did Lindsey Graham Say About the Iran War?

Before the U.S. and Israel started their joint strikes on Iran on February 28, Graham pressed for regime change in Tehran.

In January, Graham said Trump would “kill” then-Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, if Iranian authorities continued a brutal crackdown on protests against the regime inside the country.

More than 6,000 protesters are thought to have died in demonstrations and clashes with Iranian authorities from late 2025 until early February 2026, largely spurred on by economic problems in the country. Some estimates from human rights agencies put the death toll in the tens of thousands, while Iranian officials have acknowledged the deaths of 3,117 people.

"Help is on the way," Graham said in comments directed to Iranian citizens.

Khamenei was killed in the first day of attacks on Tehran and replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is thought to have been seriously injured in the strikes.

Shortly after the war started, Graham said Trump had ordered the strikes “in the nick of time” to prevent Iran developing a nuclear weapon.

Part of the U.S. justification for the war was to stop Tehran from having access to a nuclear weapon, though several senior U.S. intelligence officials later said Iran wasn’t on the cusp of piecing together a nuclear bomb.

Iran has long said its nuclear program is peaceful and intended only for civilian projects like generating electricity.

But international experts say Iran has a stockpile of more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium hidden in the country, which is close to what is needed for a nuclear weapon. The United Nations’ nuclear officials say the uranium is enriched to 60 percent, which is far beyond what nuclear power plants require and is a short technical jump to material for a nuclear bomb.

“If they had a weapon, they would use it,” Graham said in March. “To all those who don't believe that, you're stupid.”

The following month, Graham said he supported continued strikes on Iran if Tehran refused to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital global shipping route Iran effectively shut shortly after the start of the war, triggering chaos in global markets and causing oil prices to surge.

Reports emerged in mid-April that the U.S. had proposed a 20-year block on Iran being able to enrich uranium, rather than a clause prohibiting Iranian uranium enrichment indefinitely.

“The idea that we would agree to a moratorium on enrichment rather than a ban on enrichment would be a mistake in my view,” Graham said at the time.

By late May, Graham was among several Republican senators questioning whether the terms of a proposed deal would bake in major concessions to Tehran, including over Iran’s nuclear program.

“It makes one wonder why the war started to begin with,” Graham said.

Little over two weeks later, however, Graham said he now believed the deal on the table would be “beneficial to the United States” after discussing the terms with Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy.

Shortly after, he described the deal as “problematic.” Graham pushed for a diplomatic solution to the war while insisting Iran wouldn’t honor the terms of an agreement.

What Was His Stance on Ukraine?

Just two days before his death, Graham posed alongside Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital, smiling at the camera with a thumbs-up gesture.

It was his tenth trip to the war-torn eastern European nation since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in February 2022.

Graham “reaffirmed Congress’s continued support for Ukraine,” according to a readout published by Ukraine’s presidential office.

The Trump administration has not sought fresh approval from Congress for fresh military aid for Ukraine, pushing Kyiv’s European allies to purchase equipment from the U.S. for use in Ukraine. The U.S., under Trump, also paused the delivery of military aid and intelligence-sharing with Ukraine before restarting cooperation in early 2025, though the White House has often adopted a friendlier tone toward Kyiv when it grows frustrated with Russian officials in now-stalled peace talks.

Graham was one of four senators to announce on Friday that the Trump administration would impose new sanctions on customers of Russian oil and gas.

Energy exports are a major source of revenue for Russia, allowing the Kremlin to fund its long-running war in Ukraine.

Graham also visited a secretive Ukrainian drone facility during his visit to Ukraine last week, Ukrainian media reported.

The South Carolina lawmaker “was here with our people when it was most needed,” Zelensky said on Sunday. “We remained in constant dialogue, and I will miss our conversations.”

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This story was originally published July 13, 2026 at 11:33 AM.