US Senator Lindsey Graham on Wednesday introduced bills to hold Iran accountable for any escalatory action from Hezbollah and to authorise military force to deter a nuclear breakout in Tehran.
“It's time to end the charade that the world is plagued by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran,” Mr Graham said in a media briefing. “They're one industry.”
One of the bills urges Washington “to use all diplomatic tools available” to hold Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accountable for “repeated acts of terrorism” against the US.
“I'm going to challenge the American political system to acknowledge the obvious, that [Iran] is the most provocative regime on the planet,” Mr Graham said.
The bill comes as an Israeli strike on Beirut that killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukr and the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh threaten to throw the region into further turmoil.
Israel blamed Mr Shukr for orchestrating a strike in Majdal Sham in the occupied Golan Heights that killed 12 children.
After Mr Haniyeh's killing, Iran's mission to the UN said that the operation “could not have occurred without the authorisation and intelligence support of the United States” and the response would be “harder and intended to instil deep regret in the perpetrator”.
But Secretary of State Antony Blinken denied that the US was aware of the operation.
Along with Qatar and Egypt, the US has been acting as mediator between Israel and Hamas during the ceasefire talks, and Washington acknowledged that the death of Mr Haniyeh is likely to complicate negotiations.
“It was always complicated. It remains complicated,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
“It's always been complicated work, and it's not like the complications, with every passing day, get easier, and that includes today.”
Mr Graham expressed “real concern” over the future of the talks, which are also focused on the release of hostages held in Gaza.
But he said he believed “the best way to get the hostages released is making the cost so high for Iran”.
“I think if America took a stronger stance than Iran, the peace deal is more likely, not less,” Mr Graham said.
The senator also introduced a bill aimed at Iran's nuclear programme.
“Iran will keep going until someone tells them to stop,” he said. “It is time for red lines on their nuclear programme.”
The bill would authorise the use of military force against Iran if there is a threat of imminent nuclear breakout, which would include Tehran possessing weapons-grade uranium and a device capable of sending a nuclear weapon against Israel or other allies.
“I believe it is a certainty that, if we do not change course in the coming weeks or months, Iran would possess a nuclear weapon,” Mr Graham said.
“I'm trying to set a policy for America that I think will make us safer, and we'll never be safe here at home as long as we let Iran run wild.”
But Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ben Cardin, a Democrat, said he's “very cautious” about Mr Graham's bill, which draws on war powers from Washington's response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
“They get interpreted … to be used much more than Congress ever intended,” the senator cautioned to reporters on Capitol Hill.
“Administrations change, circumstances change,” Mr Cardin added.
Mr Graham told The National this month that Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump would put military force on the table with regard to Iran.
“He's going to put them in a box,” he said “He's going to go back to maximum pressure.”
