“Hamas and Iran are regenerating. Hezbollah is trying to build more weapons. We hit them hard, but they’re trying to come back - and on the missile side, that’s a real threat to Israel,” said Graham.
Iran’s renewed push to rebuild its ballistic missile arsenal now poses as grave a threat as its nuclear program, US Sen. Lindsey Graham (R - South Carolina) warned in an interview with The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. “This trip is about elevating the risk ballistic missiles pose to Israel,” Graham told the Post. In response to concerns raised by many Israeli officials about Trump discussing only the nuclear threat and neglecting the ballistic missile threat, he stated, “That’s changing. We cannot allow Iran to produce ballistic missiles because they could overwhelm the Iron Dome. It’s a major threat.”
Speaking ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s anticipated meeting with US President Donald Trump, Graham said his visit was intended to sharpen American focus on Iran’s missile production – an issue he believes must move to the top tier of US-Israel strategic priorities. “My takeaway from this trip is simple,” Graham said. “Hamas is regenerating. Iran is regenerating. Hezbollah is trying to build more weapons. We hit them hard, but they’re trying to come back – and on the missile side, that’s a real threat to Israel.”
Graham said Iran is producing ballistic missiles “in very high numbers,” warning that a future conflict would likely focus on that capability in order to overwhelm Israel’s air defenses. “They were degraded before, but if there is another attack [against them], it would be focused on their ballistic missile capability so they can’t overwhelm Iron Dome,” he said. (Ed note: A great article from US Sen. Lindsey Graham.) (Read More)
