US senator calls on Trump, Israel to 'load' rioters in Iran with arms

Hawkish pro-Israeli US Senator Lindsey Graham has called on the Trump administration and Israel to supply arms directly to rioters in Iran with the aim of igniting a civil war and overthrowing the Islamic Republic.

In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News on Tuesday, Graham presented the proposal as “a Second Amendment solution for the Iranian people,” suggesting it as an alternative to the deployment of American ground forces.

“If I were President Trump and I were Israel, I would load the Iranian people up with weapons so they can go to the streets armed and turn the tide of battle inside Iran,” the Republican senator said.

The senator from South Carolina further claimed that foreign-backed rioters would participate in what he called a revolution if adequately equipped.

“We don’t need American boots on the ground,” he said. “We’ve got millions of boots on the ground in Iran. They just don’t have any weapons.”

In response to Graham’s suggestions, Hannity noted past attempts to provide weaponry to separatist Kurdish militants, saying there had been concerns about significant portions of those weapons being misappropriated.

“Do it again,” Graham demanded, adding that “I love the idea of empowering the Iranian people with weapons.”

“Empowering the Iranian people with weapons aligns with the concept of a Second Amendment solution, making life exceedingly difficult” for the Islamic Republic, Graham claimed.

Hawkish US senator pushes Trump to ignore aides, press ahead with war against Iran

Hawkish US Senator Lindsey Graham calls on President Donald Trump not to yield to advisers warning against an act of aggression against Iran.

He also stressed the need to engage with different factions if the Kurdish people cannot be trusted to adequately manage arms distribution.

Graham drew a distinction between aerial bombings by the United States and the more immediate threat posed by armed rioters.

“It’s one thing to be bombed by America. It’s another thing to have your neighbor shoot back at you,” he said.

In a recent telephone interview with Fox News, Trump admitted that efforts were made to supply firearms during riots that hit Iran, after certain groups exploited peaceful protests over the price of the dollar to wreak havoc in late December and January.

He said that Washington attempted to provide firearms through Kurdish militants, though the consignments allegedly did not reach their intended targets.

Trump threatened that those who kept the guns for themselves would “pay a big price.”

The United States and Israel launched a miscalculated war of aggression against the Islamic Republic on February 28. The war lasted forty days but failed to secure the professed goals of Washington and Tel Aviv.

According to The New York Times, the riots were part of the military plan drawn out by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nentanyahu to topple the Islamic Republic and install a puppet regime in Iran. 

However, top US officials told Trump that Netanyahu's regime change plan in Iran was “farcical”, the Times reported.

During the riots, armed individuals violently attacked police, security forces and civilians, killing hundreds as they rampaged through streets, torching mosques, hospitals, banks and people's properties. 

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