CNN "The Situation Room" - Transcript: Iran Nuclear Deal and Military Support in Iraq

Interview

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BLITZER: I want to talk about all of this Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas.

[17:10:02] He's a member of the Intelligence and Armed Services Committees, an Iraq war veteran as well.

Senator, thanks very much for coming in.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R), ARKANSAS: Good afternoon.

BLITZER: Lots to discuss.

But let me get your thoughts first of all on this currently apparent imminent deal. Within the next few hours, the secretary of state of the United States, John Kerry, could announce, together with the Iranian leadership, the other members of the U.N. Security Council in Germany, that this historic deal is signed.

Don't you want to read the details, the 100-page document before forming a final conclusion? Because I know you hate this deal.

COTTON: Well, Wolf, as you know, I don't think we should have gone down this path to begin with. I think we've been repeatedly negotiating from the position of weakness, in particular by extending the deadline repeatedly over the last several months and over the last two weeks.

But what the president and John Kerry have already said is about to make this deal dangerous to the United States and dangerous to the world.

BLITZER: But why not look at the details, first --

COTTON: Well, look --

BLITZER: -- and then you'll have plenty of opportunity, you have 60 days. to review it, together with your colleague?

COTTON: Well, unfortunately, I think the details are only going to show that it's even worse than we had imagined.

BLITZER: Why do you say that? COTTON: Well, the president started these negotiations by saying,

very simply, that our goal is to end Iran's nuclear program. They dismantle the nuclear program, but since we have walked far away from that goal. We granted Iran the right to enrich uranium, which violates 40 years of U.S. policy. We'd granted them the right to keep their underground fortified bunker.

Now, there are reports that they're going to get a signing bonus of tens of billions of dollars, and that we might even lift the arms embargo at the time they're still destabilizing the Middle East. And they're still the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism.

BLITZER: You heard our Elise Labott just report that if they release, if they end that U.N. arms embargo, it would be phased out over presumably a long period of time, ballistic missiles, anti-defense missiles, stuff like that, might not be allowed to be sold by China or Russia, for example, anytime soon. Is that OK?

COTTON: No, Wolf, I don't think it's OK, because again, the president said at the beginning of these negotiations, we're going to end Iran's nuclear program and we weren't going to lift any of the sanctions, or have the embargos not related to their nuclear program, at a time when the Iran is destabilizing Iraq, and Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen, and when they're about to get tens of bills on, it would be the height of folly to even discuss the arms embargo.

So, I think Secretary Kerry and President Obama will have to reassure the American people in their words that there's no argument to lift the arms embargo, not even in the future, and that they will exercise their veto at the United Nations Security Council, if they want to hold the Congress on this deal.

BLITZER: You think you have the votes to stop it if the president goes forward?

COTTON: I can't imagine any members of Congress, even members in the Democratic Party, who have supported the negotiations at this point, voting for a deal that not only gives Iran a signing bonus of tens of billions of dollars, not only lets them preserve their nuclear capability, but also has the possibility of lifting a conventional arms embargo, because remember, Wolf, this is not like any old vote. This is not like say a vote for higher taxes, where you face some TV ads in the next campaign cycle, and it's behind you. Anyone who votes for this deal is living with the ayatollah's decision to go nuclear or not go nuclear for the rest of his or her time in public life, lets (ph) him to focus the mind of congressmen and senators.

BLITZER: Senator, stand by, we have more to discussion on this, other issues -- this new ISIS development, the arrest of an individual in Massachusetts today, allegedly conspiring to launch some sort of ISIS attack at university campuses in Massachusetts.

Much more with Senator Cotton right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [17:17:56] BLITZER: The breaking news, potentially a final historic breakthrough in the nuclear talks with Iran now believed to be imminent. Western diplomats telling CNN the U.S. and its partners are closing in on a landmark agreement with Tehran to contain its nuclear program for several years.

We're back with Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. He's a member of the Intelligence and Arms Services Committees.

So basically in the end, as Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, the majority leader, said over the weekend, to let this -- to stop this deal, if you hate this deal, you need 34 senators to block it. Will there be 34 senators you believe that will vote against this deal?

COTTON: Based on the direction of the negotiations have taken in the last three months and some of the reports we're hearing from the negotiations in the last two weeks, I believe there will be. I think you're going to see an open congressional rebellion on the concept of giving Iran $100 billion.

BLITZER: Let me be clear, you need 34 senators to support the president's deal with the John Kerry-led negotiations, 34 will have to vote yes in favor of this deal, and there are obviously more than 34 Democrats.

COTTON: I just can't imagine any United States senator or congressman voting to give Iran $100 billion or more in a signing bonus, and at the same time even opening the prospect of lifting the arms embargo.

BLITZER: But these frozen Iranian assets. This is Iran's money that has been frozen by the international community. That freeze will be lifted as a result of this deal, but it will be lifted over a period of time.

COTTON: Well, remember why Iran's money is frozen. That's because they are an outlaw regime. They killed hundreds of American troops in Iraq, to include soldiers and Marines that were just out patrolling. They are still a force for instability in Iraq and Lebanon and Syria, and Yemen. They're still the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism.

BLITZER: Well, the State Department agrees with you on that. The Obama administration still regards Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism.

COTTON: If Iran wants their money back and wants to be treated like a normal nation, they need to act like a normal nation.

BLITZER: Yes --

COTTON: But they're still not doing that.

BLITZER: No part of this deal will require Iran to release four American citizens who are being held prisoners in Iran right now including a former U.S. Marine, Amir Hekmati. [17:20:01] COTTON: That's correct. I think that should have been a

precondition for even starting these negotiations, that every American who is being held hostage by Iran should have been released. You know, the "Wall Street Journal" has reported that the United States released or helped release convicted Iranian arms dealers secretly in the early days of the Obama administration just to get Iran to the table. That's the exact opposite of how we should have been acting. We should have been putting so much pressure on them that they were pleading with us to come to the table.

BLITZER: What do you make of this arrest today of a 23-year-old Massachusetts man, Alexander Ciccolo -- Ciccolo, I should say, Ali Al Amriki is his Muslim name, his Arabic name, allegedly plotting to go to a college campus or campuses in Massachusetts and start killing people.

COTTON: Well, Wolf, it's breaking news, it's an ongoing investigation, so I don't want to do anything that would prejudice that investigation, but I do want to make two points. First, the FBI and our intelligence community deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the work they did. Not only to disrupt this plot, to disrupt plots all across America.

This happened on July 4th. When a lot of people were on the Arkansas River or down on the National Mall celebrating the Fourth of July, FBI and intelligence officers were working overtime to keep us safe.

And second, it demonstrates how serious the threat is to our homeland right here from the Islamic State. Oftentimes they are recruiting, they are recruiting potential adherents to attack American citizens without even going to Iraq and Syria. That's why we have to remain vigilant and we have to keep the pressure on the Islamic State.

BLITZER: You heard the Barbara Starr report from the Pentagon that the Iraqis now saying they're going to go after -- launch a military offensive to retake the Anbar Province, west of Baghdad from ISIS or ISIL as some call it. Do you have any confidence left in the Iraqi military or the Iraqi government?

COTTON: Wolf, it's unclear if they have the capability right now to defeat the Islamic State in Anbar. The United States is not providing them the level of support they need from the air, but we're also not providing them the level of support they need on the ground. We have about 4,000 troops in Iraq eight now acting mostly as trainers. Even some former Obama administration senior Defense officials have said we need to put air controllers or we need to put special operations forces with the Iraqi Army to give them the critical skills and capabilities they need on the front lines. So I'm hopeful that this offensive is successful. I can't say that I believe it will be.

BLITZER: One of the problems, though, is as much military equipmmilitary-suent, hardware, sophisticated humvees or whatever the U.S. has given the Iraqi military, so much of it has been abandoned by retreating Iraqi forces, and that military equipment now in the hands of ISIS. Can you trust the Iraqi military? COTTON: You certainly trust a lot more if you had some American

special operations forces and air controllers down with them every day in a battalion level as senior Defense officials in both parties have called for. Because it'd be there to stiffen their spine and to give them some of the capabilities they simply lack right now.

BLITZER: It's a reminder, you served with the U.S. military in Iraq, so you know the situation over there as well.

All right, thanks very much, Senator, for coming in.

COTTON: Thanks, Wolf.

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