The president of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday that the United States must “be prepared to represent” after the strikes on Saturday night aimed at three Iranian nuclear facilities.
“We have troops in the region. Iran has attacked Americans around the world, the marine barracks in Beirut, in barracks in Saudi Arabia. They have attacked embassies from countries around the world,” said the cotton, republican of Akansas, in an exclusive interview in ABC News “” This week. “” The threats are serious and we take them seriously. President Trump has no higher priority, like me and the security of the American people. “
The cotton echoed the warning of President Donald Trump to Iran who opts for peace, saying that if Ayatolá Ali Khamenei “addresses the Americans with military force, he will see, he will make him look like the child’s game.”
Trump described the strikes on Saturday night against Iran as “a spectacular military success” that had “totally and totally destroyed” the key facilities of nuclear enrichment of Iran.
Senator Tom Cotton speaks with ABC News while appearing this week, on June 22, 2025.
ABC News
In his interview with the co-presenter of “This Week” Jonathan Karl, Cotton said that the complete evaluation of damage was still underway, citing the comments of the president of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, Sunday on Sunday. But, he added, “there is no doubt that due to the president’s decisive action, we have severely damaged Iran’s critical nuclear infrastructure.”
“The supreme leader and the Ayatollahs in Iran need to understand that President Trump means business. They have the opportunity to demand for peace here, to dismantle any remains of his nuclear program and continue to really survive, because we have not pointed to the supreme leader, we have not pointed to his energy infrastructure, we have not pointed to another critical infrastructure,” Cotton said. “That is an implicit message that Iran still has things that they appreciate, that neither the United States nor Israel have hit. Iran needs to pay attention to the warning of President Trump.”
“And if they will retaliate, should the United States point to the supreme leader?” Karl asked.
“I will not govern any objectives only inside or outside,” Cotton said. “He [Trump] It wasn’t lantern. He does not lantern. And there are still numerous goals that Iran have very dear. … My message to the supreme leader is to look at the lessons in history. No, you don’t put fate. Do not point to Americans. Pay attention to Donald Trump’s warning. “
Karl pressed even more about whether the change of regime in Iran is the goal.
“That is not the military objective of President Trump,” Cotton said. “We are not following the regime change. We are not trying to put troops on the ground in Iran. We are trying to eliminate its nuclear weapons program, and by destroying three critical nuclear facilities, we have taken great steps in that direction.”
But in 2017, the Arkansas senator told Politic: “The United States policy should be the change of regime in Iran … I don’t see how someone can say that the United States can be sure whenever they have in power a theocratic despotism.”
“Has your point of view changed?” Karl asked.
“Well, while Iran’s leaders continue to terrorize Americans after these attacks, then not, the United States will not be safe from Iran’s threat. That is the point that President Trump did last night,” Cotton said. “We are not going to invade. We will not try to overthrow your government or try to replace it with a new government. [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, Iranian leaders are so hated by their own people, they have failed both to deliver positive results for their own people, that this could be the end of this. But that is not American politics. “
