Sen. Graham: 'Too Early to Tell' If Iran Will Abandon Nukes

It's "too early to tell" if Iran plans to abandon its nuclear ambitions after strikes on three nuclear facilities, but the regime still wants to make a nuclear weapon, Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday. 

"Operation Midnight Hammer was a tremendous military success," the South Carolina Republican told ABC News' "This Week." "It set the program back, I think, a couple of years. But the question for the world is, Does the regime still desire to make a nuclear weapon? The answer is yes. Do they still desire to destroy Israel and come after us? The answer is yes. Until that changes ... we're in trouble."

President Donald Trump has suggested a meeting with Iranian officials at some point, but Graham said Sunday that that meeting must not take place unless Iran publicly affirms the sovereignty of Israel. 

"They have to say, for the first time, the Iranian regime, We recognize Israel's right to exist. We don't like the state; we don't like what they do; but we recognize Israel has the right to exist as a people,'" the senator said. "If they can't say that, you're never going to get a deal worth a damn. So before you sit down with the Iranians, make them say publicly for the first time, Israel has a right to exist, and they can't say that, that tells you all you need to know about who you're dealing with."

In other issues, Graham said Trump has told him "it's time to move" on his bill to sanction Russia over the Ukrainian war. 

"What does this bill do?" the senator asked. "If you're buying products from Russia and you're not helping Ukraine, then there's a 500% tariff on your products coming to the United States. India and China buy 70% of Putin's oil. They keep his war machine going."

Graham added that his bill has 84 co-sponsors. 

"It would allow the president to put tariffs on China and India and other countries, to stop them from supporting [Vladimir] Putin's war machine, to get him to the table for the first time," the senator said.

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