NBC News " Meet The Press" - Transcript: United Nations

Interview

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SEN. TOM COTTON:

Morning, Chuck. Great to be on with you.

CHUCK TODD:

You heard both, I know, the David Cameron interview and the John Kerry interview. Let me just start with a specific, when it comes to John Kerry and Congress. He says, "There is no need to delay the UN vote, but there's enough time built in to respect Congress's role in here." Do you agree?

SEN. TOM COTTON:

No Chuck, I disagree. I think it's regrettable that the administration is going to the United Nations first, as senior and influential Democrats, like Ben Cardin and Steny Hoyer have said. But at bottom, the United States's sanctions are what's always been most important here. And I'm confident that the American people, as they learn more about this agreement, are repudiating it, and that Congress will ultimately reject it.

CHUCK TODD:

Explain the fundamental divide here. It seems to me you have on one end, the administration and many of the world powers who believe Iran is a regional power in the Middle East and you have to just live with it and manage it. And there are opponents like yourself, Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and Saudi Arabia who say, "No, Iran should not be a regional power. And all this deal does is give them more power." Is that the divide we're looking at here?

SEN. TOM COTTON:

That's one of the fundamental divides, Chuck. Iran is a terror-sponsoring, anti-American, outlaw regime. They've got the blood of hundreds of American soldiers and Marines on their hands. We should not be empowering such a regime to be a successful, regional power. We should be confronting them in every way. This deal though gives them $150 billion of sanctions relief.

It even lifts the conventional arms embargo and the ballistic missile ban. And ultimately, even if they obey every single detail of the bill, puts them on the path to be a nuclear weapon state in eight to ten years. And if you think Iran is going to change their behavior in a decade, I can tell you how unlikely that is. Because just nine years ago, they were trying to kill me and my soldiers. We were lucky. But hundreds of other American troops were not.

CHUCK TODD:

You know, the argument, you heard it, you've heard the arguments from John Kerry, from David Cameron, which is the alternative was war, the alternative was a nuclear Iran. This at least at a minimum postpones the timeline for a decade. Isn't that better than nothing?

SEN. TOM COTTON:

Well, unfortunately Chuck, as I said, even if Iran obeys the deal, Iran is going to be a nuclear-weapon state in just ten years. I think we have to assume that they will cheat on the deal though, and the inspection and verification and enforcement mechanisms I believe are too weak to do so. But in the end, I don't think it's a good thing to give such an outlaw regime nuclear weapons capability.

But we are where we are. So the question is not really what was the alternative and what is the alternative. I think the alternative is for Congress to reject this deal and demand a better deal. To send our negotiators back to the table with the threat of both tougher sanctions and military force and get a better deal for the American people.

CHUCK TODD:

All right, and before I let you go, you're a veteran, what did you make of Donald Trump's comments on John McCain?

SEN. TOM COTTON:

Well, I disagree with Mr. Trump's comments. John McCain is a great American. Everyone knows that he was a P.O.W. for over five years. But here's one thing that most people don't know about him. His dad was a senior admiral at the time he was a P.O.W.

And because of that, the Vietnamese offered him an opportunity for earlier release, in direct violation of the code of conduct for prisoners of war. John McCain declined that early release and obeyed the code of conduct. So I think we all should respect and honor John McCain's service.

CHUCK TODD:

Do you think this makes Donald Trump unfit?

SEN. TOM COTTON:

Like I say, I disagree with his comments, Chuck. I would recommend that he apologize and retract them, and then get back to the campaign that he's been running on, important issues like this Iran deal and the threat that it poses to the United States and the world.

CHUCK TODD:

All right, Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas, I appreciate you coming on and sharing your views, sir.

SEN. TOM COTTON:

Thanks Chuck.

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