Republican Senator Lindsey Graham warned the Iranian regime that they faced assassination by the U.S. if the authorities continue to kill protesters as widespread demonstrations rock the Middle Eastern country, fuelled by anger over the dire state of the sanctions-hit economy.
Graham, a longtime foreign policy hawk, who was with U.S. President Trump over the weekend, has lauded the U.S. seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in a stunning operation against Caracas, and warned the Cuban leadership that they are also in the White House’s sights.
The capture of Maduro from Caracas signaled that the Trump White House has the appetite to use U.S. military might to force regime change in hostile powers, raising the possibility of a similar effort to decapitate the leadership in Iran, a longtime American foe and the major source of regional instability in the Middle East.
“To the people of Iran: We stand with you tonight. We stand for you taking back your country from the ayatollah religious Nazi who kills you and terrorizes the world,” Graham, of South Carolina, said on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show Tuesday night.
“We pray for you. We support you. Donald J. Trump is not Barack Obama. He has your back. And to the ayatollahs: You need to understand, if you keep killing your people who are demanding a better life, Donald J. Trump is gonna kill you. Change is coming to Iran.”
Graham added: “Iran is on the verge of falling.”
Newsweek has contacted the Iranian foreign ministry via email for comment.
Israel, aided by U.S. strikes, launched a 12-day war with Iran in June that knocked out various nuclear facilities. The action was designed to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon with its growing stockpiles of highly enriched uranium. Tehran denied seeking to build a nuclear bomb.
The war with Israel also seriously degraded Iranian air defenses, depleted its stockpile of missiles, and killed swathes of its military and intelligence leadership. Iran has been dealing with the consequences of that war ever since.
At the beginning of 2026, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a new Iran-focused military plan, dubbed “Operation Iron Strike,” and expressed solidarity “with the aspirations of the Iranian people for freedom.”
The renewed protests have challenged the government’s authority, while warnings from Trump and Netanyahu show that military pressure on Iran has not receded since the fighting.
Tehran has pushed back against the mounting pressure by accusing both the U.S. and Israel of interfering in its internal affairs, arguing that public statements from officials in Washington and Jerusalem were encouraging unrest amid the ongoing protests.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry said the remarks were designed to inflame tensions and falsely present foreign governments as supporters of the Iranian public.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said comments from American and Israeli officials crossed international norms and amounted to incitement, rejecting what he described as outside efforts to influence developments inside the country.
“Actions or statements by figures such as the Israeli prime minister or certain radical and hard-line US officials regarding Iran’s internal affairs amount, under international norms, to nothing more than incitement to violence, terrorism, and killing,” Baqaei said.
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