Senator Cotton says Iran MOU risks restoring billions in oil revenue and leaves nuclear questions open

Senator Cotton criticized the recently disclosed U.S.–Iran memorandum of understanding, saying the pact risks undoing pressure that reduced Iran’s military capabilities.

"Brooke, Iran is a revolutionary terrorist regime," Cotton said, adding that Iran "has tried to kill and maim Americans" since 1979. He credited recent U.S. military strikes — citing the Soleimani strike and operations he named "Midnight Hammer" and "Epic Fury" — with weakening Iran, but warned the MOU’s sanctions relief for oil exports could return "$150 and $200 million every single day," which he estimated at "$4.5 billion to $6 billion a month." "That money, Brooke, we know is not going to go to build new hospitals or daycares," he said. "It's going to go to replenish their drone stockpiles, their missiles to support terrorists like Hezbollah and Hamas."

On nuclear safeguards, Cotton said the MOU "really just agrees to continue negotiating about Iran's nuclear program" and does not in itself prevent future reconstitution of enrichment capabilities. He argued the United States had, through military strikes, degraded Iran’s enrichment capacity and buried highly enriched uranium "under several 100 ft of mountains," but said those gains must be secured by requiring Iran to turn over enrichment facilities and any recoverable enriched uranium so future administrations cannot rebuild a weapons-capable program.

Cotton also flagged uncertainty in the agreement about whether Iran will gain access to up to $100 billion in frozen assets and whether the MOU guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will be kept open beyond an initial 60-day period without tolls. He said those points require further briefings from the administration.

The senator concluded by urging U.S. negotiators not to "squander the leverage" won through military pressure and by reiterating that, while diplomacy matters, the United States must retain options to prevent Iran from regaining a weapons-capable nuclear program.

The interview did not include a response from administration officials; Cotton’s comments presented his assessment and proposed conditions for approving any final deal.