American senator Lindsey Graham joked before his death that he wouldn’t die until sanctions were imposed on Russia

American Republican Senator Lindsey Graham died on July 11 at the age of 71 — several hours after joking that he couldn’t die until he had imposed sanctions on Russia.

This was reported by Axios, citing a source.

According to the outlet, Graham made the remark when he was advised to seek medical attention after complaining about feeling unwell.

“I can’t die right now. I still need to impose sanctions on Russia, deal with Iran, and achieve normalization between Israel and Iran,” Axios quotes Graham as saying.

The outlet claims the senator died “several hours” after saying those words.

Graham was one of the key authors of a bill to tighten sanctions against Russia, which a bipartisan group of American senators introduced in early April. The bill’s co-author was Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal. The legislation provided for, among other things, secondary sanctions against Russia’s trading partners, as well as 500% tariffs on imports into the United States from countries that purchase oil, gas, uranium, and other goods from Russia.

In addition to his anti-Russia activities, Graham was a strong supporter of Israel and one of the leading advocates for a U.S. military campaign against Iran. The senator is included on Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists.