‘Every Single Leader Said Thank You’ to Trump: Lankford Pulls Back the Curtain on His Middle East Trip

Leaders in a handful of Middle Eastern countries are surprisingly sanguine about the prospect of Iran enriching its own uranium, Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., told reporters Tuesday.

During a May 22-29 trip to Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel, in which Lankford met with leaders of various countries, the senator said he was surprised to hear those leaders dismiss the threat of Iran’s uranium enrichment. He told The Daily Signal and other reporters that he pushed back, warning that if Iran can enrich its own uranium, it will likely develop a nuclear weapon.

“The leadership in all the different countries were pleased to be able to hear that Iran was going to be able to keep enrichment of uranium,” Lankford said. “My response to them was, ‘No, no, they cannot.’”

“The only countries in the world that enrich uranium also have a nuclear weapon,” the senator explained. “Every other country that has nuclear power, but not a nuclear weapon, they buy their uranium from the manufacturer, basically.”

“So, I was pretty clear with all the different leaders in Lebanon and Iraq, and in Jordan, to say that that should not be allowed,” Lankford added.

He said the Israelis shared his concern.

“Why would the Americans say that the Iranians can keep their nuclear program, let’s say, I promise you that I’m not going to have a nuclear weapon,” he recalled them asking. “Why would we trust the Iranians? When have they ever kept their promises?”

“So, they were pretty clear about that to say that the only way to be able to assure they don’t have a nuclear weapon and a path to a nuclear weapon is they don’t have a nuclear uranium program, as well,” Lankford concluded.

Iran’s Influence Wanes

The Trump administration has revived its “maximum pressure” sanctions on Iran—sanctions the Biden administration loosened—and launched new negotiations toward a potential deal. While the Biden-era loosening of sanctions allowed Iran to beef up its support for proxies in the region—such as Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and militias in Iraq—Israel’s military response to the Oct. 7, 2023 pogrom has devastated those Iranian proxies, allowing countries in the region to reassert themselves, Lankford said.

The senator expressed hope that Lebanon may become stable and defend the rights of minorities.

While the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah once had an army at parity with the Lebanese government forces, Israel’s response to Hezbollah’s attacks has given Lebanon a real opportunity.

“The Lebanese Armed Forces are devastating Hezbollah in the south,” Lankford noted. “With Israel striking and disabling Hezbollah … it has opened up an opportunity for the Lebanese Armed Forces to move in and to be the army for Lebanon—and not to be a competing army, but to be the army, the defender of Lebanon.”

The senator mentioned reforms in Beirut that give him hope for pluralism in the country, and he noted that the Lebanese army is effectively an equal mix of Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, and Christians.

Hope for Syria

Similarly, Iran’s loss of influence gives hope for Syria, a multi-ethnic state currently recovering from a decade-long civil war. While different factions within the country, such as the Western-aligned Kurds in the north, the Christian minorities, the Sunni and Shia factions, may want their own states, leaders in the region hope the country will stay together and succeed, Lankford said.

“I would tell you the leadership of Iraqis, the Kurdish regional government, the leadership in Beirut, the leadership in Oman, and the leadership in Israel all want a functioning Syria,” he noted. “If you start dividing up Syria, it is divided into seven different nations.”

Turkey, in particular, would oppose the creation of a separate Kurdish state, considering the large Kurdish minority in eastern Turkey, he noted.

“For those Kurds that are in eastern Syria, the Kurds that are in the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, were very clear that they’re telling their Kurdish brothers to turn towards Damascus,” Lankford said.

“The focus of their region is an autonomous sovereign Syria that has great diversity—like Lebanon has great diversity—and to be able to make that work where you actually protect the rights of the minority, but it shouldn’t be dominated by the Turkish government; it shouldn’t be dominated by the Iranians, certainly,” he added.

Foreign fighters who desire to impose Sharia law—the political implementation of Islamic law—pose the greatest threat to Syria’s prospects, Lankford said. He noted that the country remains “a very, very violent place,” and if the government imposes Sharia, the country will “break into a total civil war again.”

The senator also noted that the leaders he met praised President Donald Trump.

“Every single leader and every place that we went to said thank you to President Trump for how he’s handling the negotiations,” Lankford said. “No one brought up President [Joe] Biden.”

The senator also mentioned “The Mechanism,” a U.S. effort to coordinate security between the armed forces of Lebanon and Israel. He revealed on social media that Maj. Gen. Michael J. Lenney is leading this effort. 

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