In an interview on Fox News with anchor Martha MacCallum on Thursday, Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and a member of the Armed Services Committee, voiced strong reservations regarding President Donald Trump’s preliminary memorandum of understanding with Iran.
While acknowledging the political and economic pressures that led to the deal, the Arkansas senator warned that key aspects of the agreement could inadvertently revitalize the adversarial state.
Responding to MacCallum's opening query about whether Iran has changed its character after 47 years, Cotton firmly rejected the notion that the state has normalized.
“Iran is a revolutionary terrorist regime. It has been for 47 years. It's been killing and maiming Americans. It tried to kill my soldiers and me when we were in Iraq," Cotton said. "President Trump deserves credit for making Iran weaker than it's been in decades through military strikes now going back six years across two terms. And I know Arkansans are pleased with the recent decline in gasoline prices, and I hope that continues. But I do have concerns that certain aspects of this deal are a step in the wrong direction."
Cotton specifically criticized the immediate unwinding of energy sanctions, calculating that the financial windfall for Tehran would be immense and dangerous.
“For instance, we're going to lift sanctions on Iran's oil exports right away. And based on their pre-war rates of production and recent prices for a barrel of oil, you're looking at somewhere between 150 and 200 million dollars a day. So that's four and a half billion to six billion dollars every single month. That's a lot of money. And we know that this terrorist revolutionary regime is not going to spend that money on daycares or on hospital. They're going to use it to rebuild their drone stockpiles, their missiles, to fund Hamas and to fund Hezbollah," Cotton explained.
The senator highlighted additional ambiguities in the text, stating, “There's certain parts of this memorandum that are a bit vaguer about Iran's ability to access up to 100 billion dollars of frozen funds or whether Iran can impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz after two months. We'll need more explanation there. I hope President Trump won't allow those things to happen because, again, he deserves enormous credit for making Iran weaker than it's been in decades. And we need to make sure that we don't squander the leverage that we built across six years, from the strike on Qassem Soleimani to Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Epic Fury."
When MacCallum noted President Trump's desire to avert an economic recession driven by spiking global oil prices, Cotton acknowledged those domestic concerns but argued that the US missed an opportunity to forcefully dictate the terms by halting its aggressive maritime campaigns.
“I hear from Arkansans, obviously, who are affected by the price of gas or the price of diesel, the price of fertilizer. I do wish that we had continued with Project Freedom when it was announced a couple of months ago that would forcefully open the Strait of Hormuz," Cotton remarked. "We always knew going into this war that Iran had the ability to close the strait temporarily. But we also know that the American military has the ability to open it permanently. And in fact, as President Trump has said, starting a few weeks ago, we had, if you will, a midnight Project Freedom, which was bringing anywhere from three to five million barrels of oil a day to the strait. Our military had the capability of doing that and it still has the ability to do that."
Looking toward the 60-day review period, the senator advocated for a swift return to military force if Tehran falters.
“And of course, if Iran doesn't keep its end of the bargain, if it tries to close the strait, if after 60 days it tries to impose tolls, I would recommend to the president that we use our military to force the strait open and to keep it open, in addition to reimposing the blockade that was stopping Iran from getting access to $150, $200 million of oil cell revenue every day."
On Wednesday, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz expressed profound concern regarding what he views as massive American capitulations codified within Trump’s memorandum of understanding.
“History teaches that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is not a good idea. I think the president is receiving some very poor advice on this deal," Cruz told The Hill.
Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley also spoke out against the US-Iran deal, stating that the deal would be paying Iran to rebuild what the US had destroyed during the war.
“Hitting Iran’s nuclear and missile sites was the right move. This regime chants death to America, murders our troops, and attempts to assassinate Americans on US soil. They believe they have an obligation to destroy us," Haley wrote in a post on social media.
“Now, we plan to unlock billions of dollars and lift sanctions, with the promise of even more money. They will use that money the way they always do- to further their nuclear ambitions and on terrorist proxies against us. It’s a huge mistake to pay to rebuild the threat we just destroyed," she added.
On Tuesday, former US Vice President Mike Pence sharply criticized the memorandum of understanding.
In an interview with CNN, Pence said the agreement "smells of appeasement" and grants Tehran extensive concessions without demanding meaningful reciprocal measures.