Senator Tom Cotton warns Trump's Iran deal will give regime '$200 million a day to fund terrorism'
US Republican Senator Tom Cotton on Thursday warned that parts of the Iran deal, such as US President Donald Trump removing sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, would earn the regime around 200 million dollars a day.
“That’s a lot of money,” Cotton explained to Fox News, “and we know that this terrorist regime isn’t going to spend that money on daycares or hospitals, they’re going to use it to rebuild their drone stockpiles, their missile, to fund Hamas, and to fund Hezbollah.”
The senator said that “aspects of this deal [with Iran] are a step in the wrong direction,” in an interview with Fox News.
He explained that Iran is “a revolutionary terrorist regime,” and has been for 47 years, explaining that although “President Trump deserves credit for making Iran weaker than it’s been in decades,” he still has concerns that parts of the deal will be detrimental to the goal of weakening the Iranian regime.
He also expressed concerns about vaguer parts of the memorandum of understanding, such as Iran’s ability to access up to 100 billion dollars in frozen funds, and whether they will be able to impose tolls on the Strait of Hormuz.
“We will need more explanation there. I hope President Trump won’t allow those things to happen because again, he deserves enormous credit for making Iran weaker,” Cotton told Fox News.
Israeli ministers and MKs had strong criticisms of the deal, considering it a failure for Israel and the world.
Religious Zionist Party leader and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the deal was “bad for Israel and for the entire free world,” while National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said Israel “is not a banana republic,” while Naftali Bennett called it “a historic failure.”
Former prime minister Ehud Barak said the war left Iran “stronger” and Israel “weaker,” and a poll by the Israel Democracy Institute found 57.5% of Israelis expected the deal to leave Israel less safe.
The “memorandum of understanding” that Trump signed with Iran is not a final agreement but a one-and-a-half-page, 14-point framework negotiated on and off over several weeks.
