President Donald Trump’s historic strike against Iran — conducted in conjunction with Israel — immediately won praise from one of his strong allies in Congress.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.), one of Congress’s leading voices against the repressive Iranian regime, is the chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; almost immediately after Trump’s strike, Cotton noted that “the butcher’s bill has finally come due for the ayatollahs. May God bless and protect our troops on this vital mission of vengeance, and justice, and safety.”
Cotton, a decorated Army veteran, spent years serving in both the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and he laid out the rationale for Trump’s surprise attack by highlighting Iran’s “nuclear weapons program,” alongside its “thousands of missiles” and “state sponsorship of terror.”
“Iran has waged war against the U.S. for 47 years,” Cotton added. “The hostage crisis, the Beirut Marine barracks, Khobar Towers, roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan that killed or maimed thousands of American soldiers, the attempted assassination of President Trump.”
Following the strikes, Trump laid out his rationale for the strikes, telling the world that the regime has been “mass terror, and we’re not going to put up with it any longer.” Trump, Cotton said, was spot on with his “excellent statement.”
Cotton’s latest statement on Iran puts him squarely in line with both the leadership of the Republican Party, whose Kiersten Pels explained her support for Trump’s moves to the Washington Reporter and with GOP voters, nearly all of whom said in a pre-strike poll that they support a move by America to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons. That GrayHouse poll was obtained exclusively by the Reporter, and its findings had already been shared with House and Senate Republicans.
