Graham says ‘long way to go’ before lasting peace in Middle East

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on Sunday there is a “long way to go” before achieving lasting peace in the Middle East, even as he expressed optimism about the hostage peace deal announced by the Trump administration.

“There will never be peace in the Mid East until you deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis because they're proxies of Iran,” Graham said in an interview on NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”

“But I'm excited about tomorrow. This will be a great day to get the hostages away from their bondage and their torture. And hopefully that will build to a lasting peace, but we have a long way to go. I still don't trust Hamas any further than I can throw them,” he continued.

Last Wednesday, Trump announced Israel and Hamas had both reached an agreement to release the remaining Israeli hostages and stop the fighting in Gaza.

The president is expected to travel to Israel Sunday afternoon to address its legislature on Monday morning local time, before traveling to Egypt for a peace ceremony to welcome the hostages.

Graham, who is staunchly pro-Israel, said he hopes this peace deal brings lasting peace to the region, noting that the moment is a “perfect storm for peace” that is “brewing in the Mid East.”

“But whether or not Hamas will disarm, whether or not there will be control of Gaza after the ceasefire that we can all live with, is a very big question,” he continued.

“There are three pieces of the puzzle: Iran, which is the weakest they've been since 1979; the Arabs, which are closer to Trump than anytime I can remember in the Mid East, closest to a president; and Israel, who trusts Trump a lot. So all these things fall together,” he continued.