Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK), leader of the 47 senators who sent the irresponsible letter to Iran, said he has “no regrets at all” about sending the letter, during an interview with Face the Nation.
Cotton said the letter was created to let “Iran’s leaders . . . hear the message loud and clear.” However, despite having “no regrets,” Cotton has received a lot of criticism over the letter from the White House, Democratic leaders, and even some Republicans.
Cotton remains firm in his arrogance by insisting that “if Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are trying to negotiate the toughest possible deal, they would be glad to point to [the] letter . . . to gain leverage in the talks.”
While Cotton defends the letter in saying it was intended to help America during negotiations with Iran, Kerry dismissed it as another attempt at obstruction by the GOP. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said the incident would be similar to “lawmakers sending a letter to Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to undermine President Kennedy during the Cuban missile crisis.”
Considering the current crop of Republicans, that scenario doesn’t seem so far-fetched. It seems that any action taken by the GOP is acceptable as long as it’s intended at disrupting Obama’s plans.
Cotton’s letter fell on deaf ears and there was no response from Iran other than Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif calling the letter a “propaganda ploy” and criticized the GOP’s knowledge of international law and the US Constitution.
Zarif said:
I should bring one important point to the attention of the authors and this is, the world is not the United States, and the conduct of inter-state relations is governed by international law, and not by US domestic law. . . . Not only do [the authors] not understand international law, but [they] are not fully cognizant of the nuances of their own Constitution when it comes to presidential powers in the conduct of foreign policy.
