Tom Cotton Says Iran Has Been An ‘Imminent Threat to U.S. For 47 Years’

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) raised eyebrows on Tuesday after he claimed Iran had “posed an imminent threat to the United States for 47 years.”

Reacting to the joint U.S.-Israel war against Iran on Fox News, Tuesday, Cotton claimed:

The simple reality is Iran has a vast missile arsenal that far exceeds the combined missile defenses of the United States, our air friends in Israel, and it gets much worse every single month. That is an unacceptable risk for the United States, it’s an existential risk for our air friends in Israel, and it wouldn’t get better if we waited six or twelve or eighteen months to find a more imminent risk. In fact, Iran has posed an imminent risk to the United States for 47 years as they’ve maimed and killed thousands of Americans without that vast missile arsenal. The president was right to act when he did.

Cotton’s comments raised eyebrows on social media, where users questioned how something could pose an imminent risk for half a century.

Following news of the Trump administration’s decision to join Israel in the bombing of Iran, Cotton – who previously supported and fought in the Iraq War – went on a media blitz, appearing on several networks where he praised President Donald Trump’s leadership.

“President Trump has the inherent power under our Constitution and as commander-in-chief to use military force to keep our nation safe,” said Cotton in one of several appearances on Fox News, while on CNN he claimed, “This has been a gathering threat on the horizon. President Trump was right that it’s absolutely vital and necessary now to address that threat before it fully materializes in the near future.”

On CBS’s Face The Nation, Cotton praised Trump for “finally putting America’s foot down against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Watch above via Fox News.

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