Vice President Kamala Harris is the Iranian “Ayatollahs’ handpicked candidate,” according to Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, who called for the elimination of “all of Hezbollah’s leadership” while insisting that the United States “should let Israel win” against Tehran’s key terrorist proxy in the region.
In an interview on CBS News’s Face the Nation Sunday, Cotton, who sits on the Senate armed services and intelligence committees, expressed strong opposition to any ceasefire or de-escalation efforts in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
Noting that Israel has dealt a “huge blow” to Hezbollah’s leadership, he argued that now is the time for the U.S. to back Israel in fully neutralizing the group’s remaining capabilities.
“I’m not sure that Israel’s expanding the war so much as it is trying to end the war,” he said, pointing to Hezbollah’s vast arsenal of over 100,000 rockets, missiles, and mortars aimed at Israel. He added that recent Israeli strikes have “devastated the entire leadership structure of Hezbollah,” including the killing of the group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
Cotton stressed that the U.S. should support Israel in completely dismantling Hezbollah, asserting that the destruction of the group’s leadership and military capabilities would leave Iran vulnerable.
“Iran has used [Hezbollah’s] threat to deter Israel for years … Now is not the time for a ceasefire or to de-escalate as Joe Biden and Kamala Harris want,” he continued, noting that Hezbollah is “on its knees.”
“The United States should help Israel drive Hezbollah to the mat, choke it out, and finish it off once and for all,” he added, insisting that “we should let Israel win.”
When asked if his support extended to a potential Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon, Cotton said he would endorse such an action if it were necessary to destroy Hezbollah’s remaining forces.
“If that’s what Israel needs to do to eliminate the remnants of Hezbollah’s leadership and its arsenal, then yes, of course,” he replied. Cotton emphasized the importance of eliminating Hezbollah’s military infrastructure to prevent future threats, adding, “All of Hezbollah’s leadership needs to be eliminated, just like all of its arsenal needs to be eliminated.”
Cotton also criticized the Biden administration’s response to Iranian aggression, particularly in Yemen and the Red Sea, where he claimed U.S. sailors have been left vulnerable to Iranian-backed forces:
Just like the United States needs to be much more forceful in attacking Iran’s terror army in Yemen – where Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have had our sailors resting like sitting ducks on the Red Sea for months. When we finish mopping up all these terrorist proxies, that means Iran is once again totally exposed, and it can no longer threaten Israel, the United States, and our friends throughout the region. That’s why we need to back Israel to the hilt and let Israel win, rather than continue to make these feckless demands for ceasefires and de-escalation as Kamala Harris and Joe Biden have been doing for a year now.
He described President Biden and Vice President Harris’s approach as one of appeasement, noting, “From the minute Joe Biden and Kamala Harris got to the White House, there have been threats to Americans,” and he called for a more forceful U.S. response.
“Iran and its proxies have attacked our troops over 100 times, and we’ve barely ever struck back. There have been continued attacks on us,” he explained. “Again, just like we should support Israel in striking back against these terrorists, we should be striking back harder.”
He then slammed the Biden administration’s failed approach to Iran.
“But that’s Kamala Harris’ and Joe Biden’s policy. From the very beginning, they’ve appeased and conciliated the Ayatollahs,” he said. “Kamala Harris, for instance, opposed Donald Trump’s strike that killed Iran’s terrorist mastermind [Qasem Soleimani] in 2020.”
Furthermore, he accused the Biden administration of enabling Iran’s actions.
“Over the last four years, they’ve given away tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief. They’ve looked the other way as Iran violates sanctions,” he said. “They’ve continually put more pressure on Israel than on Iran’s terrorist proxy.”
“That’s why Kamala Harris is the Ayatollah’s handpicked candidate, and why the Ayatollahs are hacking into Donald Trump’s campaign and trying to kill him,” he added.
The matter comes after President Biden called for a ceasefire in Lebanon again on Saturday evening, hours after the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was confirmed.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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