‘Danger’ on horizon
Graham: War near with Iran, N. Korea
A top Republican senator on Sunday warned that 2018 could be a year of “extreme danger” as the United States deals with mounting tensions with North Korea and Iran.
Sen. Lindsey Graham said the probability of the United States using military force against North Korea would rise from “30 percent to 70 percent” if the rogue regime tests another nuclear weapon, and he predicted 2018 would be the year to “deny North Korea the capability to hit the homeland.”
President Trump has “drawn a line” in the sand with North Korea, saying any indication it might target the United States with a nuclear weapon would be met with overwhelming military force, said Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“If they test another bomb, they’re closer to having that capability,” the South Carolina lawmaker said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
“Now the Iranians are watching us in North Korea. North Korea’s watching us in Iran. 2018 will be a year of opportunity and extreme danger.
“We’ve got a chance here to deliver some fatal blows to some really bad actors in 2018. But if we blink, God help us all.
“Sanctions will never work completely without the threat of credible military force. How do you change a man’s behavior who’s willing to kill his own family, torture his own people to stay in power?” Gra- ham said, referring to North Korean despot Kim Jong-un. “And the Iranians are watching how Trump deals with North Korea.”
He also said the president should go on national television to address Americans about what he wants in a nuclear deal with Iran and to voice solidarity with the protesters there.
“The Iranian people are not our enemy. Here’s what I would do if I was President Trump: I would explain what a better deal would look like,” Graham said. “It’s not enough to watch. President Trump is tweeting, very sympathetically, to the Iranian people. But you just can’t tweet here. You have to lay out a plan.”
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump said he would rip up the nuclear agreement with Iran, calling it “the worst deal ever.” He faces a deadline this month to recertify the pact.
Graham’s dire predictions were echoed by retired Adm. Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said the nuclear ambitions of Pyongyang and Tehran are leading us closer to war.
“We’re actually closer, in my view, to a nuclear war with North Korea and in that region than we have ever been,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”
But Mullen also blamed Trump’s “disruptive” and “unpredictable” policies for creating instability and warned that “our enemies,” including Iran, could take advantage of the uncertainty.
“I worry greatly about the fact that the Iranians will bring forward a nuclear-weapon capability . . . They were very close when the deal was struck,” he said, referring to the nuclear deal brokered in 2015 by then-President Barack Obama and other world leaders.