
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Thursday that President Trump’s actions toward Iran could result in a modern-day version of the Berlin Wall’s fall.
“It is my strong view that history is watching every move we make. If we follow through by sending help to the protesters risking their lives, we will have a 21st Century Berlin Wall moment,” Graham, a foreign policy hawk, wrote in a Fox News opinion piece.
“Ronald Reagan’s determination to stand up to communism paid dividends for the entire world when the Soviet Union crumbled under its own weight,” he added. “What followed was a new birth of freedom around the globe, liberating millions who knew nothing but oppression.”
U.S. officials, led by Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, are holding peace talks with Omani and Iranian officials Thursday after Trump warned Tuesday he will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon amid the U.S.’s massive military buildup near the Middle Eastern country.
“They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words, ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,’” the president said during his State of the Union address. “My preference, my preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”
The Treasury Department on Wednesday also imposed new sanctions on Iranian individuals, companies and ships accused of enabling the country’s illicit oil sales and ballistic missile programs.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that while Iran is not currently enriching uranium, the country is “trying to get to the point where they ultimately can.” Trump said last June that U.S. strikes obliterated three Iranian nuclear sites, including the Fordow site deep in a mountain south of Tehran.
Rubio also noted that Iran “possesses a very large number of ballistic missiles, particularly short-range ballistic missiles” that threaten the U.S., its allies and military bases in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain. Trump said Tuesday that Iran has missiles that can threaten Europe and is working to build ones capable of reaching the U.S.
But Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, denied the president’s claims Wednesday.
“We are not developing long-range missiles,” Araghchi said in an interview with India Today TV, according to Iran International. “We have limited range to below 2000kms intentionally. We don’t want it to be a global threat. We only have [them] to defend ourselves. Our missiles build deterrence.”
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