Adding Iran to a pending Russia sanctions bill would reinforce President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure Tehran and make clear that further aggression will bring greater consequences, former Reagan White House adviser Jeffrey Lord said Sunday on Newsmax.
"This is, as it has been for like the last 47 years, a very, very dangerous situation in dealing with Iran," Lord told Newsmax's "Wake Up America Weekend." "They are nonstop in their obsessions here. They don't like the West. They don't like America. They don't like the larger Western world."
He also backed Trump's call for Republicans to include Iran in the legislation, a step the president said had been supported by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Trump wrote Sunday that Republicans should add Iran to the Russia sanctions bill, saying that was what Graham "wanted to do" and that it "was going to happen."
Lord said Trump's willingness to confront Iran directly is essential as the conflict continues and Tehran carries out attacks against U.S. forces and American allies in the region.
"The thing that you have to do is what President Trump does, which is stand up to them, let them know that they're not going to get away with this kind of thing," Lord said.
"For the president to speak out is very important and a reminder to them that if they go much further, they're going to have even more problems than they do right now."
Lord also cautioned that the prolonged conflict could affect the political environment ahead of November's midterm elections, particularly if casualties rise and gasoline prices remain volatile.
"We've been here before in the larger scheme of American history in midterm elections," Lord said. "It's what happens and doesn't happen and all of that kind of thing."
He pointed to the 1966 midterms, when Democrats suffered major losses after President Lyndon Johnson escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam following his landslide reelection two years earlier.
"By the time we got to the 1966 midterm elections, the Democrats got absolutely clobbered," Lord said, noting Republicans gained dozens of House seats and several governorships, including Ronald Reagan's election as governor of California.
Lord said the comparison shows how quickly a war or major foreign policy crisis can reshape the political landscape but cautioned against drawing firm conclusions with several months remaining before voters cast their ballots.
"Things can happen to change the picture pretty quickly here," Lord said. "And, you know, as impatient as we might all be, it's July. We've got a ways to go here before we get close."
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