Sen. Tom Cotton (R – Ark.) warned that the likely outcome of the current nuclear negotiations with Iran is war. He made the remarks in an interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that was published today.
When asked by Goldberg whether engaging and possibly empowering the moderates in Iran’s regime through negotiations is worth pursuing, Cotton replied:
I would also just say that there are actions over the last two years that have disproved the thesis that there might be these emerging moderates who are ready to take the reins of powers, that Iran can change its behavior as long as the ayatollahs are in power. I mean, just look at what they’ve done throughout the region. Why would we grant them these concessions? I mean, imagine, if they get a nuclear weapon, they’ll have a nuclear umbrella and then that’ll be tremendously destabilizing. I think it will probably lead to the detonation of a nuclear device somewhere in the world, if not outright nuclear war. But it could even just lead to greater conventional threats. What would Hezbollah do if their sponsor had a nuclear weapon?
Cotton stated that once the nuclear accord had concluded its limited duration, war would be highly likely.
The proposal puts Iran on the path to being a nuclear-arms state, and I think once Iran becomes a nuclear-arms state, this will lead inevitably to some kind of military confrontation. It may not be initially with the United States, but I think that’s virtually inevitable.
Cotton’s estimation of Iran becoming a “nuclear-arms” states coincides with President Barack Obama’s estimation that in thirteen years, Iran could have a breakout time “near zero.”
When asked whether his approach was more likely than Obama’s to lead to war, Cotton replied that if Iran was threatened with no lifting of sanctions in the absence of a deal, then Iran would capitulate to the West’s demands, rather than rushing to a nuclear breakout. He also echoed the view of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who said that a military strike against Iran’s nuclear program could be limited, and that it wouldn’t necessarily lead to a prolonged conflict.
In the end, Cotton summed up his views of the choices presented by Iran’s nuclear program.
And when President Obama likes to say, ‘It’s this deal or war,’ I would dispute that and say, ‘It’s this deal or a better deal through stronger sanctions and further confrontation with [Iran’s] ambitions and aggression in the region.’ And if it is military action, I would say it’s more like Operation Desert Fox or the tanker war of the 1980s than it is World War II. In the end, I think if we choose to go down the path of this deal, it is likely that we could be facing nuclear war.
[Photo: Senator Tom Cotton / YouTube ]