Onlookers befuddled by Lindsey Graham's head-spinning praise of Trump's Iran deal

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) put a baffling spin on Trump's Iran War deal, but he didn't get off scot-free.

Although details of Trump's Iran War deal remain murky, it's already being criticized for reportedly giving up a $300 billion reconstruction fund. Graham told reporters on Tuesday, however, what he believed the deal achieved.

"If this thing goes through, we've opened up the straits," the GOP senator said. "The war will be in a permanent ceasefire, and we'll try to get a nuclear deal with Iran."

On X, commentators dogged Graham as they pointed out that these achievements were what was already in place before Trump started the war.

"We've achieved opening the Strait that was open before the war that Trump lost," wrote Ben Rhodes, a former Obama foreign policy advisor and political writer.

"The big achievement of the war, according to Lindsey Graham, is that things will hopefully go back to the way they were before the war," MeidasTouch, a political news network, piled on.

"Trump started the fighting and is responsible for the closing of the Strait," agreed Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and contributing editor for The Atlantic. "So he is giving Iran tons of money, draining $50 billion or more from taxpayers, depleting our vital stocks, bloodshed from our military, oil, helium, and fertilizer prices up, to return to status quo ante."

"Not only were the straits open before Trump initiated combat operations, but the U.S. could have very likely prevented Iran from closing them & clearly was not able to/did not prioritize that part of mission," senior national security reporter Zachary Cohen wrote. "Now, Iran has demonstrated it can successfully close them."