In part, Senator Cotton said:

“I thought Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth, Chairman Caine, and Director Ratcliffe did a very good job of laying out the intelligence and the current state of operations. The simple reality is Iran has a vast missile arsenal that far exceeds the combined missile defenses of the United States, our Arab friends, and 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 Arab friends and Israel and it wouldn't get better if we waited for six or 12 or 18 months. 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.”

Senator Cotton’s full interview may be found here and below.

Brian Kilmeade: Our next guest was in the gang of eight briefing yesterday, Senate Intel Committee Chair Tom Cotton. Senator, is your take the same as Senator Warner and Senator Blumenthal and Senator Schumer? More questions than answers?

Senator Cotton: Brian, no, not at all. I thought Secretaries Rubio and Hegseth, Chairman Caine, and Director Ratcliffe did a very good job of laying out the intelligence and the current state of operations. The simple reality is Iran has a vast missile arsenal that far exceeds the combined missile defenses of the United States, our Arab friends, and 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 Arab friends and Israel and it wouldn't get better if we waited for six or 12 or 18 months. 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. 

Brian Kilmeade: Senator, you know that Blumenthal, who has a lot of foreign policy experience, one or a ton of foreign policy experience, and Schumer, they know the danger of Iran. They know it's persistent and incessant danger of Iran and that we could have hit any time in the last 15 years, but other presidents decided not to. Do you think they really don't understand the Iranian threat? I mean, how do they make those statements with a straight face?

Senator Cotton: Brian, I can't get inside any of my Democratic colleagues’ heads, I just disagree with their view here. It's in keeping though with the Democratic party's view of Iran going back decades. Look at Barack Obama's terrible nuclear deal that didn't block Iran's path to a nuclear weapon, it paved Iran's path to a nuclear weapon while also doing nothing to address this second and urgent threat: their vast missile arsenal. That's why the president had to act when he did.

Brian Kilmeade: By the way, when those Iranians stood up in the streets and asked for US help, President Obama made amends with the government. He ignored those requests and they got murdered in the streets. This president answered the call for a myriad of reasons. Senator, there's a there's a story out there that the president was pushed into this battle by Benjamin Netanyahu. What's the truth?

Senator Cotton: Well, first Brian, no one pushes or drags Donald Trump anywhere. He acts in the vital national security interest of the United States, and second, Secretary Rubio addressed this point yesterday after our Gang of Eight briefing. Israel faced an existential risk, and they were prepared to strike Iran alone. If that happened, Iran was very likely to target our troops. That may address the question of why now? Why not two weeks ago? Why not two months from now? The president though did not want to put our troops in harm's way. The more fundamental question though is why? Why did we have to carry out this operation against Iran? And as I said, that's because they have a vast missile arsenal that far exceeds our combined missile defenses and it gets worse every single month. That is an unacceptable threat to the United States.

Brian Kilmeade: So Senator, people have to pick what they don't like about this mission. They could say that the president was pushed by Netanyahu. Well, the other story in the Washington Post and New York Post on Saturday said that NBS behind the scenes, Saudi Arabia's leader, he was saying you have to do this, this is a problem in this region, this has to be taken care of and there was an urgency. So, are people not acknowledging that that there was our allies in the region also saw this as an issue?

Senator Cotton: Yeah, Israel is far from alone here. Our Arab friends have faced a serious threat from Iran for years as well, and it's no secret that most Arab leaders have been working closely with the United States and Israel to contain Iran going back at least to the Obama administration. And I would point out that as soon as Iran targeted these Arab countries, they didn't plead for peace, they didn't ask Donald Trump to stop, they asked Donald Trump for targeting information so they could join in the strikes in Iran. That's what a real coalition looks like. We're all now fighting together to try to finally eliminate the threat that a revolutionary Iran poses to the United States, to our Arab friends, and Israel.

Brian Kilmeade: And I think the Chancellor of Germany is going to have the same message as our Gulf States. I think they've been the strongest out of the European partners. They're going to be in Washington today. Senator Tom Cotton, thanks so much. Appreciate it.