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Lindsey Graham: "We're Going to Make a Ton of Money"

Lindsey Graham is the senior Republican senator from South Carolina. He was a leading supporter of the 2003 Iraq war and has been, for two decades, one of the loudest voices in Congress for confronting Iran and for Israel. In the Iran war he was a constant presence: in the President's ear, on Fox News, and on the bills that tightened pressure on Iran. This page gathers what he said and did.

Before the war: authorizing force​

In 2024 Graham introduced S.J.Res. 106, a resolution that would authorize the use of force against Iran if it possessed weapons-grade uranium or a warhead (@sith_lord_bane on X, September 22, 2026). Congress did not pass it. When war came, it came without any authorization at all (see did Congress authorize it?).

"Whispering in his ear"​

Rep. Thomas Massie, who led the House fight against the war, named Graham among the President's mistakes on Iran:

"his second mistake would be letting Lindsey Graham on that airplane so many times, whispering in his ear"

(Sense Receptor on X, May 27, 2026). Former State Department official Josh Paul described "Israel and its allies in the US, including its allies in Congress like Lindsey Graham, or its allies in the Israel first lobby like Apac" as racing to lock in U.S.-Israeli military integration before public support fades (YouTube interview, July 6, 2026). A captured search page listed Graham with Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, and Laura Loomer as the war's leading public champions (captured X search page, July 2026).

"The end of the largest state sponsor of terror"​

When the war began on February 28, 2026, Graham posted: "Operation Epic Fury has set in motion the end of the largest state sponsor of terror." AIPAC reposted it (AIPAC reposts, March 2026).

"A ton of money"​

On Sunday, March 8, 2026, eight days into the war, Graham told Fox News:

"When this regime goes down, we're going to have a new Mideast. We're going to make a ton of money. Nobody will threaten the Straits of Hormuz again."

(Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram on X, March 8, 2026; Al Jazeera, March 9, 2026). Asked in the same interview how he would answer a Pentagon request for tens of billions of dollars, he called it the best money ever spent (clip via @sgtnewsnetwork). Eleven days later the Pentagon asked for $200 billion.

This is a senator, not a critic, describing a war in terms of profit. It is also the clearest statement in the record of the "new Mideast" that Israel's leaders have promised: Netanyahu said of the June 2025 war, "we're changing the face of the Middle East" (see Greater Israel).

The sanctions law in his name​

In September 2026 Congress passed the "Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act," which includes a five-year extension of the Iran Sanctions Act. AIPAC applauded it and urged Congress to pass the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act next (AIPAC on X, September 16, 2026). The President, at the UN, said he had "signed a powerful new law passed by Congress providing me with enormous new tariff authorities" "in honor of Lindsey Graham" (@Truthtellerftm on X, September 23, 2026).

The money around him​

Posts critical of Graham say he "has received over $1 million from the Israel lobby, with direct and indirect support from AIPAC's PAC" (@TrueMaga_ on X, February 24, 2025); no FEC table was attached, so that figure is the poster's. In Turkey's F-35 dispute, one summary noted, Graham "Points to a Potential Backlash Related to Relations with Israel" (@pegasinemesis, September 22, 2026). A reader can check Graham's contributors at OpenSecrets and FEC.gov.

Why he matters​

Graham links every thread of this section: the Iraq-war hawks who returned for Iran (see Iraq-war veterans), the pro-Israel lobby that reposts him and praises his bills, the President's inner circle, and the open talk of profit.

Status: Lindsey Graham: Unknown (several July 2026 posts and one Tablet Magazine column report his death; not confirmed by a primary source in this record). (Also alive: Thomas Massie, Josh Paul, Chad Pergram, Donald Trump, Benjamin Netanyahu.)

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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