With doubts that Tehran’s hardline Islamic leaders supported Hamas in its attacks against Israel quickly evaporating, Senator Graham is suggesting that the only way to keep the war in Gaza from escalating is to “hold Iran accountable.”

On the third day of a war that saw Israel strike enemy  targets in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip,  the South Carolina Republican evoked the dangers of hostilities spiraling out of control, particularly if stoked by Iran. 

Speaking on Fox News Monday night, Mr. Graham said that if Iran “escalates the war by urging Hezbollah to attack Israel from the north, or if Hamas kills one American or Israeli hostage, we’re going to blow up your oil refineries and put you out of business.” 

“It is now time to take the war to the Ayatollah’s backyard,” Mr. Graham added. 

The senator’s warning came on the same day that the former Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, called on President Biden to refreeze $6 billion in Iranian funds that the administration recently unfroze in exchange for the release of five wrongfully detained American citizens.

“Biden’s policy on appeasement, including money for hostage deals, must come to an end,” Mr. McCarthy said, adding “His policy has only emboldened terrorists. And handing over $6 billion to Iran only helps the cause.”

Some prominent Iranians have been unrestrained in their support for the latest Hamas terror. A senior adviser to Iran’s “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called the attacks against Israel by Hamas a “proud operation.”  

That adviser, Yahya Rahim Safavi — who is also a general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — added that “We support this operation, and we are sure that the resistance front also supports this issue.”

Amid the ongoing violence in the Middle East, more than one hundred people including an unknown number of Americans or dual national American-Israeli citizens have been taken hostage by Hamas, which has threatened to begin executions of some hostages. The status of negotiations for a prisoner exchange, if any such negotiations have taken place, was not immediately clear. 

In the meantime, a senior American defense official on Monday warned Hezbollah against making any “wrong decision” to open a second front against Israel. The official added that a major reason for Washington’s deploying a carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean is to  send a signal to Hezbollah that the Lebanese-based, Iranian-backed proxy not “question the commitment of the US government to support the defense of Israel.”

On Monday afternoon Israel and Hezbollah traded fire along a portion of the Lebanese border. According to Reuters, five Hezbollah terrorists were killed in the exchange. One Israeli soldier was killed amid the hostilities, and Israel’s Home Front Command instructed residents near the northern border to enter protected spaces. 

As tensions flared in the north and Israel acted to enforce a siege on Gaza and destroy enemy infrastructure there, more prominent political figures weighed in, if tardily. 

Writing on X Monday,  President Obama stated that “all Americans should be horrified and outraged by the brazen terrorist attacks on Israel and the slaughter of innocent civilians.” 

Mr. Obama added that “We grieve for those who died, pray for the safe return of those who’ve been held hostage, and stand squarely alongside our ally, Israel, as it dismantles Hamas.”

Mr. Obama’s choice of the word “dismantling” appears to lend support of a kind to Israel’s counterstrikes in the Gaza Strip with a view not only to retaliation for the attacks that left hundreds of Israelis dead but also to put Hamas out of commission altogether. 

The 44th president tempered his remarks by inserting the platitude that “we must keep striving for a just and lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”  

President Clinton’s take was more even-keeled. “I stand with the government of Israel and all Israelis, and urge them to stand together,” Mr. Clinton wrote on X, adding that “This is a moment to focus on purpose over politics.”