Sunday, on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) said, “Even if Iran obeys the deal, Iran is going to be a nuclear weapons state in just ten years.”
Cotton argued, “Iran is a terror-sponsoring, anti-American, outlaw regime. They’ve got the blood of hundreds of American soldiers and Marines on their hands. We should not be empowering such a regime to be a successful regional power. We should be confronting them in every way. This deal though, gives them $150 billion of sanctions relief. It even lifts the conventional arms embargo and the ballistic missiles — missile ban. And ultimately, even if they obey every single detail of the deal, it puts them on the path to be a nuclear weapons state deal in 8 to 10 years. And if you think Iran is going to change their behavior in a decade, I can tell you how unlikely that is. Because just nine years ago, they were trying to kill me, and my soldiers. We were lucky, but hundreds of other American troops were not.”
“Even if Iran obeys the deal, Iran is going to be a nuclear weapons state in just ten years. I think we have to assume that they will cheat on the deal, though, and the inspection and verification and enforcement mechanisms, I believe, are too weak to do so. But, in the end, I don’t think it’s a good thing to give such an outlaw regime nuclear weapons capability. But we are where we are…I think the alternative is for Congress to reject this deal and demand a better deal, to send our negotiators back to the table with the threat of both tougher sanctions and military force, and get a better deal for the American people,” he added.
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