WASHINGTON -- North Korea's latest missile test has brought the world closer to a military conflict with the belligerent regime, a US senator said Sunday.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was commenting on Tuesday's launch of what North Korea claimed was an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to all parts of the US mainland.

"We're getting close to a military conflict because North Korea's marching toward marrying up the technology of an ICBM with a nuclear weapon on top that cannot only get to America but deliver the weapon," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "We're running out of time."

Graham called for a congressional discussion on the possibility of a pre-emptive strike on North Korea.

"The policy of the Trump administration is to deny North Korea the capability to hit America with a nuclear-tipped missile, not to contain it," he said. "Denial means pre-emptive war as a last resort. That preemption is becoming more likely as their technology matures."