Sen. Cotton: ‘Coercive diplomacy’ can improve Iran, North Korea situations

U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., wants a tougher nuclear agreement with Iran before it becomes the next North Korea, and he’s not afraid to use American force to leverage his position.

Appearing on this week’s edition of Talk Business & Politics, Sen. Cotton said that the U.S. can annihilate Iran’s current nuclear operations and could continue to do it until they “get the picture.”

“If we are forced to take action, make no mistake, we can totally destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities. They know that, they need to know that we are willing to do that. And if they do, then I do hope that coercive diplomacy can get a better deal for the United States, and that we can block Iran’s path to a bomb once and for all,” Cotton said.

Cotton said he doesn’t want a military showdown, but is fearful that any allowances with Iran today could lead to a similar situation the U.S. finds itself in now with North Korea.

“I hope it doesn’t reach that point, but the ayatollah’s need to know it will if they don’t agree to sit down to a new round of negotiations, and fix all the many problems with the nuclear deal, because ultimately that deal doesn’t block Iran’s path to a bomb, it paves Iran’s path in a mere eight to 13 years,” he said. “Remember, it’s only 12 years after the agreed framework with North Korea in 1994 that they detonated their first nuclear weapon in 2006. And look where we are now with that country.”

When asked if the U.S. is out of diplomatic options with North Korea, Cotton said no, but emphasized that China must take a stronger role in curtailing North Korean aggression.

“That’s the only diplomatic route I see to resolving this showdown,” said Cotton.

Sen. Cotton also shared his thoughts on several other political topics.

On gun law changes:
“On the policy front, investigators are still collecting all of the facts, so, the Las Vegas police, the Clark County sheriffs, FBI. And I think we need to wait until we gather all the facts about exactly what happened, the kinds of weapons that the shooter used, what motivated him to do this, before we jump to any conclusions. There’ll be a time to debate that once we have a fully informed factual basis, which right now we simply do not have.”

“I think what some people in Washington call common sense gun control, sounds like to a lot of Arkansans like uninformed efforts to put the federal government even more deeply into the second amendment… So there’s misinformation about the nature of our gun regulations, but ultimately, so many of the regulations that we have they’re not going to stop the kind of evil that we see in so many of these mass shootings.”

On unlikely bipartisan tax reform:
“Ultimately, what I want to see is tax legislation that puts a little more money in the pockets of hard working Arkansans. But, to those process questions, yes, the budget committee is working on a budget that the full Senate will consider later this month and then we’ll move on to tax legislation. I wish that we could get some Democratic support. You know, most Democrats these days, though, have becomes somewhat radicalized on the tax question. They’re not even willing to entertain the prospect of simplifying our tax code, eliminating a lot of the special interest provisions in it, unless you’re also going to raise taxes.”

On CHIP, community health center funding lapse:
“I expect the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and community health centers will be reauthorized and funded later this year. This is caught up somewhat in the broader debate about healthcare, that is behind us, for the time being. I expect you’ll see those programs reauthorized and funded, I’m supportive of them.”

Watch Cotton’s full interview below.