‘We are going make a tonne of money’: US Senator Graham on US war on Iran
Lindsey Graham, the veteran Republican senator who has been pushing for war against Iran for decades, has issued a dire warning to the Iranian government, saying it was worth spending money to “take this regime down”.
“When this regime goes down, we are going to have a new Middle East, and we are going [to] make a tonne of money,” Graham, a longtime proponent of US military intervention abroad, told Fox News on Sunday.
Graham, who has been one of the Trump administration’s most vocal supporters of Israel and the war against Iran, appeared to suggest that the US abduction of Venezuela’s left-wing leader Nicolas Maduro and the attack on Iran were launched to gain control over each country’s oil supplies.
“Venezuela and Iran have 31 percent of the world’s oil reserves. We’re going to have a partnership with 31 percent of the known reserves. This is China’s nightmare. This is a good investment,” said Graham.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/9/we-are-going-make-a-tonne-of-money-us-senator-graham-on-us-war-on-iranOpen linkView original on sh.itjust.works
Fuck you "we." "We" who!? When oil companies profit "we" don't see a fucking dime of that money especially with your corporate "taxation" bullshit where they get loophole after loophole to pay nothing.
Well, he means himself and his friends, which is what all politicians have always meant when they say "we" are going to benefit from their decisions.
"We, the people"... except for women, non white, non Protestants, poor, ...
Wait, so those white, mouth breathing, MAGA hat wearing guys are going to make money off this?!
Not unless they're aristocracy.
They'll get robbed like the rest of us, and gladly blame the rest of us for it instead of their greedy little puppet-masters.
Yeah but on the upside you do get to pay for the bombs they're dropping on Iranian kids.
(a la thejuicemedia) Oh sweetie..
Political English is tricky.
The "we" in, "we are going to make lots of money", has absolutely no relation to the "we" in, "we have to make sacrifices".
Other terms that often confuse proletarians: beautiful justice tax cuts freedom security unprecedented elites transparency socialist free speech patriot ...
He means "the business."
People like Graham treat the US like a corporation, and they are a model employee.
Profits over people once again.
Republicans are genuinely traitors to the US. It’s hard to put into words how much I hate them.
Traitors to humanity
Aaaannnddd there it is!
It's all the American government has ever cared about.
Assault! Homicide! Blood for money, money!
As if there was any pretext before
No blood for oil. It was evil and stupid in the 00s, and it's worse today now that oil is increasingly replaceable
The hilarious thing is that the American voter is supposed to be thinking of themselves when he says "we". I would kinda understand the logic of continuing the forever war as a voter if everyone got a fat check once we ended the Iraq war. At least then I could understand that it is pure greed driving people to vote for war mongers.
In the end "we" is a small group of oil barons who made billions while footing the multi trillion bill to the tax payer. Unfortunately this just means that the average voter is greedy, but to stupid to actually benefit from their own avarice.
Still hoping for that trickle down 40 years later.
Golden Shower economics, surely the rich will start pissing on our heads any day now.
They softened it from horse and sparrow. See, if the horse eats enough there will be a lot left over for the sparrow that passes through undigested.
Basically, eat shit, commoners.
Meanwhile, China has been hard focused on renewables and lowering their need for oil.
Good plan Lindsey...if it was 2006 not 2026.
These old fucks are still thinking like it's 1986.
I feel like the background and skin tone in the meme could be swapped. 🤔
They have a big focus on nuclear power as well, they have 59 operating nuclear power plants with over 28 under construction. Nuclear is just as important as renewables at this current time in our technological evolution. We need better energy storage technology for pure renewable to work well.
It would also be sick if nuclear fusion becomes a reality and makes all other power generation obsolete, generally.
That will never happen, without scarcity they can't make obscene profits year over year so Fusion will be patented and shelved.
In a capitalist country sure, maybe some other country's will take advantage.
You don't think America will attack another country to protect it's economic intrests?
I don't doubt it, I just doubt they'd go after china. They both know they have too much to lose from that
No, they're not doing this for rational economic interest. They're bombing iran to cover up the elstein files. They bombed Iraq to get bush re-elected after tech bubble and 9/11.
You give them way too much credit assuming they make rational economic decisions, they start wars for ego and panicking to cover up crimes. It's a shit show in every way.
I was making a hypothetical about future military intervanetions to protect economic intersts, not the pedophile in cheifs current distraction campaign Operation Epstein Folly
Yes and when in history has the US rationally started a war for economic motives?? Not Iran, not Iraq, not Vietnam, not Korea, heck not even WW2 and WW1. So maybe the Spanish American war? But i dont think we ever made money in Cuba Phillipines or Puerto Rico either.
War is not economically rational, and the US leaders aren't rational when they start wars either.
Fusion is not like the movies where you make a tiny star that just generates free excess power forever after.
It requires fuel. It's repeated tiny explosions which get harnessed to usually heat water and run a turbine. That fuel needs to be created and transported.
There's like a dozen companies building out fusion reactors right now in the US, some claiming they'll be operational as soon as 2028. THEY want to be the ones selling that energy. Capitalism isn't stopping that desire to capture a market even if it threatens another market
I almost throw up when I heard it.
"Let's kill people by the thousands. It will make us money"
Primitive baboons.
They rape children and will go to prison for life if they don't keep it up. Nothing should be shocking they will sell their own grandmas to stay free and unaccountable.
Let's be real I don't know very many Democrats who are picking voluntary service these days.
Now, when a draft comes about, I'm sure they'll figure out a way to target primarily Democrats and BIPoC's...but we aren't there yet.
I guess i dont understand what point you're making?
Yup. I used to think Lindsay was just a clueless idiot. I mean he is, but think carefully about what he said there . . . the utter contempt it shows for the ordinary people on both sides who will be maimed and killed for his greed. That is just 100% concentrated evil.
Remember when we joked about america invading anything for oil and then we all stopped for a bit because they tried to convince us that there was more to the US than being the state equivelent of a crackhead with a dozen shotguns? And then they launched a self described war to bring about the apocalypse and also steal all the oil... can we stop pretending everything is ok!?
Forget everything else, this is the essence of it.
The one thing you want even less than the Near East dominated by US oil interests is a Near East dominated by the Chinese.
Then maybe the West shouldn't have spent 50 years selling the PRC the rope they're using to hang them with.
Even some of the near east is starting to think about what happens when the goo runs out. Only the US is doubking down.
Yeah, thats… kinda unfortunate. Everywhere, anything resembling longterm strategic planning went out the window with the fall of the USSR. With the possible exception of France.
Why? The Chinese are in no way my enemy.
China is a country where people just vanish. You've got no protections against the state. There is no free press. I don't see how the same Chinese state will have any qualms about using their power in the same way in foreign countries too, if they can afford it.
Yes, the US has acted ruthlessly. But at least at the very least those crimes can be - have been! - made public.
Imagine US foreign policy, but add a healthy dose of we'll-vanish-everyone-who-even-talks-about-it. The prospect scares me.
Ah it's the 2000s again. They'll top it off with a global financial crisis. Probably the AI bubble collapsing or succeeding and destroying all the jobs.
Maybe the Americans will elect an Obama 2.0 after. Maybe not. There wasn't MAGA last time. More likley it'll be president mecha-Hitler or something this time around.
If we're going by extremes maybe we can get a socialist president this time round? Actual universal healthcare?
I’m still not down from my hate-high after the last election. America doesn’t need someone else to step in and responsibly commandeer the government. Not yet.
The pain must go on long enough for the lesson to stick.
Conserv卐tives don’t learn until they’re personally affected. Not all of them are as yet affected.
Kinda saying the quiet part loud there, aren't you, Lindsey? In prior decades the government at least pretended its wars were about anything other than oil...
No it's not. China has been embracing the future by investing in renewables. It's not stuck in the past, and it doesn't give a shit if you are. The oil economy is dead and dying. It will be replaced, and at this rate the US won't be ready for it. China is laughing.
War isn't a fucking investment! Are dollar signs all you see?
I'm not usually one to talk nice about the PRC, but in this case it's just the truth.
And if the US is turning into an authoritarian oligarchy surveillance state, then I might as well side with the authoritarian oligarchy surveillance state that's at least converting to green energy. There's literally no reason to side with the US against China anymore, and it's the US's own damn fault!
China has never produced a lot of energy relying on oil in the first place. They did improve a lot adding renewables to the pie, but sadly, they still heavily rely on coal.
China has a 100 year plan, the orange dotard himself doesn't know what he is going to be doing in the next 100 minutes...
Oil is still very useful. Especially when we stop burning it to make cars go forward or to fertilize crops.
A mostly electric future is a safer place
Another point I don't see brought up often is how much we use oil for basically everything else. Clothing (polyester), packaging, flooring, so many consumer goods globally are made from polymers. I hate it but the oil problem doesn't go away with just transitioning to renewables for energy.
The biggest use of oil is in the energy to run transportation.
Not that the would problem would go away but it would be an actual manageable problem.
Textbook psychopath. A truly immoral, sadistic, bloodthirsty bastard of the sort Hunter Thompson would conjure to represent the foulest archetype of American politics.
Thompson has said that as much as he hated Nixon, he would vote for him against Bush and Cheney. If he learned that USians elected Trump just one time after the 2015-16 campaign, his head would explode on its own.
https://nymag.com/news/politics/22322/
There is no textbook definition of psychopath that holds up to scrutiny or can even be verified using modern psychology research.
You seem so sure of this statement. Care to expound on this train of thought?
‘Psychopathy’ is not a clinically recognized diagnosis.
Understood. I get your point now.
“Venezuela and Iran have 31 percent of the world’s oil reserves. We’re going to have a partnership with 31 percent of the known reserves. This is China’s nightmare. This is a good investment,” said Graham.
You don't have "partnerships" with people whose countries you've bombed and invaded and whose resources you are stealing. Those people hate you and want to kill you. You fucking fool.
There's no way to hold territory without boots on the ground and another Forever War.
Not to mention what good does it do. China is moving to electric vehicles, and solar power. Sure you'll want to use gas powered ships for now, but half of the ships traversing oceans are simply moving fuel around, which won't be needed as the electricity doesn't need to be shipped if it comes from solar. Will large shipments still be needed, of course, but wouldn't it be against the U.S. own interest to have high oil costs for the country shipping them items. As in every item would cost more for American consumers to have it shipped, it would be like putting a tariff on Chinese goods.... Oh... I forgot making the American worker pay more to line the pockets of the oil companies is what they want, got it.
Same old Republican party. Waste of oxygen IMHO.
Who is this "we" that keep talking about? I haven't seen Jack shit.
Conservatives are so clownishly selfish.
They're the hamster that gets mad at the other hamster and shits in the shared food bowl out of spite.
For those not old enough to remember, they said the Iraqi war would pay for itself with all of that oil.
It did not.
But, Graham isn't talking "we" the US people, but "we" as in the club we're not in, AKA bOtH pArTiEs Super Friends.
War-mongering, conquering, and looting the spoils. Some things never change.
We're expected to believe Graham was speaking in metric?? Fake news!
For the longest time, I only heard about "Kia Stahma" on UK panelshows. The first time I saw his name in print ("Kier Starmer") I was llke - wait - not one, not two, but THREE r's??? WTF! lol
I still feel weird when I head a American broadcaster talk about "Kier Starmer". It just sounds wrong to me. heh.
But yeah, as the other person replying mentioned, it's Al Jazeera, so they heard "tons" and wrote "tonnes". I'd almost not even call that an error, just an accidental choice. Transcription gets rough. You think "How hard is it to transcribe?" but written and spoken language are VERY different, even before you get into regionalization and accents. :)
"Kier" is not a common name, nor is "Starmer." So at a certain point, it's just a bunch of syllables and you have to just do the best you can.
I knew a Japanese person who, upon hearing former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's name, couldn't hear anything except a common phrase in cooking recipes, "golden brown."
For the remainder of my years, that former British Prime Minister shall have no other name. This is the only way I know how to reference him now.
aww, that is hilarious and delightful.
The Stranglers - Golden Brown
Of course the golden brown they sing about had nothing to do with cooking.
In an appearance on Fox News, no less.
The source is AlJazeera so even tho Graham likely meant tons, the source took it as metric tonnes.
A simple error.
I believe that was the joke.
Zionist prostitute
I think that might be an insult…to the prostitutes.
Believe in the underpants gnomes theory!
Who do you think that billion dollars a day goes to?
Is step 1 also Profit!?
And it's the same people. Who are also clever enough to profit from a bull market or a bear market. Who cares, just as long as one or the other doesn't stay too long so they can profit off the swing.
Profit every step of they way.
Mostly arms contractors.
Mostly pedo class
Again, this is standard wealth transfer to corporate America. All that cash goes into these senator's pockets via the MIC.
There's no way he said tonne with the e at the end like that.
Shoddy reporting by Al Jazeera. Graham was clearly speaking American, not English.
The humans on this planet really are going to incinerate themselves over little green pieces of paper.
This whole timeline feels like Vogon poetry
meanwhile gas prices just doubled, thanks for that america. get rid of your fascist regime, please? :(
Please stop buying from the fascist regime and its allies, and please stop using the US dollar for international trade
Excellent! That will really make the revolution SO EASY thank you very much
BUY A BIKE!!!
Way cheaper, healthier, funnier, less pollution, no money given to warmongering oligarchies
Sounds good
Funner*, but I guess funnier as well, and less road rage.
With wooden wheels?
Lindsey graham is a child rapist and murderer who is owned by AIPAC
and yet he keeps getting elected, best rep they can come up with, love him ?
Fantastic! That means no need to pay taxes for the next 3 years
Petroleum based economy and government craves petroleum at any cost.
And ironically seek to make the economy even more petroleum-dependent even though alternatives have gone from barely workable to actually superior.
We're going to have the HOTTEST economy ever! - MAGA
It is a hot economy when everything is on fire…
Make sure the shitbag's grandchildren are fucking drafted! The MAGA fucks always said the USA has enough oil reserves to be self-sufficient. As usual, BS!
Someone already made tonne of money on forex. Looking at the chart the war is over and it was just a forex scam.
Why is their tonne in kilograms? That's weird, Americans use pounds, it's almost like this was written by a foreign agent, eh? I once learned a story from my Ukrainian coworker many years ago about a kremlin spy working in the US government, and he was only discovered because he crossed his 7s like they would in Russia, not like an American, as they do not cross their sevens.
Imagine this regime trying to catch a mole 🤣
Interesting
I cross sevens, put no loop in two, complete the triangle in four and fully hook six and nine because I’m a surveyor
Lots of Americans cross their sevens. Not the majority, but I see it all the time.
Because you are a multicultural melting pot, like Canada. This was like from the 70's the guy was old. Americans did not do this, this comes from European and more specifically eastern block countries and has been adopted by others as well I'm sure. I'm not from there, but I think they look nicer with a little hook and a cross. This is where the story came from, he saw me writing and broke into his story.
Depends on the definition of we. Military actions almost never end well financially.
It ends super well for the people who use the war as cover to steal money.
I guess that's ok then. Just go to war for money, loke every fascist regime ever.
Lots of people made lots of money off the German Nazis.
That didnt make it right then, and it doesnt make it right now.
Let me guess, polymarket
Anyone else watch Rick and Morty, isn't Graham basically Jerry in couple therapy place (mean outside of the 'presenting' that it does)? It's just so subservient to whoever he latches on to. Mean from bomb Iran of McCain it just may be doing his previous hang on wishes here too. But seriously this guy is a senator that has a leadership ability of a wet noodle. Aren't senators supposed to be strong in their own convictions? Mean maybe there's lots I haven't heard of Mr Graham but I don't think McCain would be happy with his swap.
Least McCain had some principles and would now down to the orange turd, that's the only good thing I saw from him (okay plus telling someone in an audience to be respectful of Obama, you'd never see that today)
I think Mr Graham's only true conviction is the love he shares with young men practicing prostitution in the DC area.
Americans, for a ton of money they will sell their own mother, zero morality.
But please do remember that there's a difference between the average American^[not counting MAGA] and our oligarchs…
Oh fuck off. You're not the victim here.
Thank you for your shitty reply. I'm glad to know who you are so I can eliminate seeing anything from you in future. It's delightful when people just come out and let you know the kind of person they are.
🤣🤣🤣
You have no idea how right this statement is.
The post jimmy carter dream of the american corporate elite is finally being realized.
-- from the New Pope
Just an upstanding member of Harris's coalition, nothing to see here.
Edit: WTF I mixed him up with Dick Cheney. Nothing to see here folks.
Yeah that's not true at all
Except for all the times she and people on her campaign kept bragging about his endorsement.
That's old news and not relevant to today's fiascos out of the WH.
Okay apparently I mixed up Lindsey Graham with Dick Cheney so I messed up anyway, but also Harris does keep trying to return to politics after her pathetic defeat (which would be an unmitigated disaster), so she's not exactly irrelevant to current politics.
Her 'pathetic defeat' where her opponent very likely stole the election?
C'mon, we resorting to conspiracy theories now? Harris spared no expense in pissing off her base and thought pop singers and appeals to democracy were a substitute for actual policy. It's not like this outcome was even unexpected; plenty of people were sounding the alarm and pre-election polls had the election as a toss up.
It's not a conspiracy when the data shows that there's the appearance of manipulation.
Furthermore, Harris had plenty of policy statements vs mr 'concepts of a plan' so don't pretend this was a battle of policy.
She really living rent free up there
Is Harris in the room with us now?