Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants the Marines to take over Kharg Island, stating, “We did Iowa Jima, we can do this.”
The senator was on “Fox News Sunday” when he made his declaration. Kharg Island is Iran’s main oil export hub.
“Here’s what I tell President (Donald) Trump: Keep it up for few more weeks, take Kharg Island where all of the resources they have to produce oil, control that island, let this regime die on a vine,” Graham said.
Graham was asked about an analysis by The Atlantic magazine that an invasion of Kharg could become a “grinding war of attrition.”
“I’m sort of tired of all this arm chair quarterbacking,” he responded.
“I trust the Marines, not that guy,” Graham said of The Atlantic’s analyst. “I trust DOD. We’ve got two Marine expeditionary area units sailing to this island. We did Iowa Jima, we can do this. The Marines, my money’s always on the Marines.”
Watch:
The seizure of Iwo Jima came with a hefty price as about 7,000 U.S. service members died in the battle. This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific theater in World War II.
Graham’s words did not go unnoticed by fellow Republicans, including Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who stated Graham has been wrong about conflicts in the past.
“Graham has one foreign policy: send someone else’s kids to war,” she posted on X. “He was wrong about Iraq. He was wrong about Afghanistan. Now he’s wrong about Iran.”
Mace was the first female cadet to graduate from The Citadel.
Graham served as a U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General (JAG) for more than three decades and retired as a colonel.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), an Air Force veteran, said she was “deeply upset” by Graham’s comments.
“I am deeply upset at the lack of respect for life Sen. Lindsey Graham is displaying when talking about our troops. He is acting as if they are expendable cattle. This is unacceptable and dark. There were over 26,000 American casualties at Iowa Jima,” she posted on X.
