Cotton: Iran deal could lead to a nuclear war

The Obama administration’s work on a nuclear deal with Iran could lead to a nuclear war, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in an interview published on Monday.

“If we agreed to the kind of proposal the Obama administration has made, then military confrontation may be further off, but it might also be nuclear,” he said in an interview with The Atlantic.

{mosads}“Twenty years, 10 years, 12 years, who knows? 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,” he said. “It may not be initially with the United States, but I think that’s virtually inevitable.”

He also noted that one option to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons was to conduct military strikes against the country now.

The United States, Iran and other negotiating partners announced a framework agreement earlier this month to limit Iran’s nuclear work in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. Negotiators are working until the end of June to finalize the deal.

The framework has been criticized by members of both parties, and the Senate might consider legislation soon that would allow the chamber to review a deal and to vote on it. 

Cotton has been one of the most vocal critics of the negotiations and argued last week that military action against Iran could be completed within “several days.”

The freshman senator from Arkansas was also behind an “open letter” to Iran’s leadership that warned them a deal could be undone by Congress or a Republican president.