US must halt appeasement to 'tyrannical' Iranian regime, Senator Cotton demands

The United States must cease all appeasement towards the 'tyrannical' Iranian regime which is the world's greatest state-sponsor of terrorism, US Senator Tom Cotton has demanded.

Republican Tom Cotton said America should begin with 'immediate and crippling sanctions' in place of 'sham nuclear negotiations' to make the US military threat more credible.

In a speech at the US Heritage Foundation, he said: "Iran is a radical, Islamist tyrannical regime... that has been killing Americans for 35 years.

"Iran is at war with the West just as the Islamic State is. While operating a repressive totalitarian state at home, the Iranian regime conducts many of these operations against America and our allies through terrorist proxies, as Iran remains the worst state sponsor of terrorism in the world, according to President Obama’s own State Department.

"Iran is a lead financer and arms supplier of Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, vile terrorist organizations dedicated to destroying Israel.

"While Iran likes to boast that it has joined the fight against the Islamic State, it’s done so only to protect Assad, and has threatened to attack US forces currently fighting against the Islamic State if they target the Assad regime."

Cotton also warned about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and stressed that appeasement by the US would only help the regime obtain them.

He added: "US negotiators have surrendered repeatedly to Iran’s demands, conceding a right to enrich uranium, allowing Iran to keep its plutonium-producing reactor, asking only that its centrifuges be disconnected instead of dismantled.

"In return for these concessions to Iran, the US has given and will give Iran billions of dollars more in sanctions relief.

"What started as an unwise policy has now descended into a dangerous farce. One can only suspect an unspoken entente between the Obama administration and Iran: the US won’t impose new sanctions on Iran and will allow it to develop threshold nuclear capabilities, while Iran won’t assemble a bomb till 2017."

Mr Cotton called for a clear policy of regime change, adding: "Cease all appeasement, conciliation, and concessions toward Iran, starting with these sham nuclear negotiations.

"Enact immediate, crippling sanctions; and make our military threat more credible."