Cotton: 'No regrets' about GOP Iran letter

Sen. Tom Cotton says he has “no regrets” about the Republican Senate letter sent to Iran’s leaders, warning them that any nuclear deal they reach with the United States could be modified by Congress or a future president.

“Iran’s leaders need to hear the message loud and clear,” the Arkansas Republican said Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” defending a letter he signed with 46 other Republican senators that has led to major blowback.


“I can tell you,” he added, Iran’s leaders “are not hearing the message from Geneva.”

Cotton reiterated that any executive agreement reached with Iran must be approved by Congress for it to be “lasting and binding.”

The “deal that’s on the table right now is a very bad deal,” he declared, explaining there were alternatives to a nuclear deal other than war.

“The alternative to a bad deal is a better deal,” the senator said. “Congress stands ready to impose much more severe sanctions.”

In an interview aired on “Face the Nation” ahead of Cotton’s remarks, Secretary of State John Kerry blasted the GOP letter, calling it “unprecedented” and factually incorrect. And Congress does not have the ability to modify executive agreements, he said.