'Cowardly Character': Sen. Cotton Fires Back at Iranian FM | CNS NewsShare on Facebook Share on Twit...

1. 'Cowardly Character': Sen. Cotton Fires Back at Iranian FM
'Cowardly Character': Sen. Cotton Fires Back at Iranian FM | CNS News
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Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is interviewed by David Ignatius of the Washington
Post at New York University on Wednesday, April 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
(CNSNews.com) - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif took adig Wednesday at Sen.
Tom Cotton, an arch-critic of the emerging nuclearagreement, prompting the Arkansas Republican
to fire back a debatechallenge, accompanied by a personal gibe about Zarif hiding safely inthe U.S.
while his country was at war.
At an event at New York University, Zarif addressed a dispute overexactly when sanctions would be
lifted under a negotiated final nucleardeal.
(The White House says the measures will be suspended
only "after the [International Atomic Energy
Agency]has verified that Iran has taken all of its key
nuclear-related steps."Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei says they must be lifted immediately the
final deal is signed.)
Within a few days of an agreement being concluded, Zarif told his interviewer - Washington Post
columnist David Ignatius - the U.N. Security Council will pass aresolution endorsing the deal,
terminating all previous resolutions,including sanctions resolutions, and setting in place the lifting of
allU.S. and European Union sanctions.
That resolution, he said, "will be mandatory for all member-states, whether Senator Cotton likes it or
not."
Amid laughter, Zarif added, "I couldn't avoid that," to whichIgnatius said, "I'm tempted to say you'll
pay for that, but you alreadyknow that."

2. Zarif went on to say, "we don't want to
get bogged down into thedomestic
procedures of the United States," and
asserted that theagreement was being
negotiated with President Obama.
"I've studied and lived in the U.S. I
know enough about the
U.S.Constitution and U.S. procedures,
but as a foreign government I onlydeal
with U.S. government. I do not deal
with U.S. Congress, I do notdeal with
U.S. Supreme Court."
Zarif said it would be Obama's responsibility to stop implementingall of the sanctions that have been
imposed on Iran "by executive order[and] by congressional decision."
"However he does it, that's his problem."
Zarif's dig at Cotton referred to a controversial open letter,spearheaded by the senator and signed
by 46 GOP colleagues, informingIran's leaders that they will consider any nuclear agreement that is
notapproved by Congress to be "nothing more than an executive agreementbetween President
Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei."
On Wednesday Cotton took to Twitter to hit back at the comments:
"Hey @JZarif, I hear you called me out today," he tweeted. "If you're so confident, let's debate the
Constitution."
Cotton invited Zarif to meet in Washington at a "time of yourchoosing to debate Iran's record of
tyranny, treachery, & terror."
The senator, a U.S. Army veteran with combat service in Iraq andAfghanistan, then got personal,
saying he understood if Zarif declinedthe offer - "after all, in your 20s, you hid in U.S. during Iran-
Iraqwar while peasants & kids were marched to die."
It was no "badge of courage," Cotton added, "to hide in U.S. whileyour country fought war to survive
- but shows cowardly character stillon display today."
Zarif studied international relations at San Francisco StateUniversity in the late 1970s and earned
an MA and PhD in internationalstudies at the University of Denver in 1984 and 1988 respectively.
The war between Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq lasted from 1980-1988, and cost at least half a
million lives on both sides.
'Ill-advised'

3. In a separate statement responding to Zarif's NYU comments, Cottonnoted that the Iranian foreign
minister had again contradicted Obama'sdeclaration that sanctions will only be lifted when Iranian
compliancewith nuclear restrictions are verified.
In response to the "whether Senator Cotton likes it or not" jibe, Cotton said, "Sanctions relief isn't
about what I like, but what will keep America safe from a nuclear-armed Iran."
"But I suspect Foreign Minister Zarif is saying what President Obamawill not because the president
knows such terms would be unacceptable toboth Congress and the American people."
"The repeated provocative statements made by members of the Iranianleadership demonstrate why
Iran cannot be trusted and why thepresident's decision to pursue this deal and grant dangerous
concessionsto Iran was ill-advised from the beginning."
Cotton said Zarif's statements reaffirmed the need for Congress to approve any final nuclear deal.
"As we consider the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, I urge mycolleagues to ensure we pass
legislation strong enough to stop a baddeal in its tracks and protect the American people from a
nuclear Iran."
The Senate's consideration of the legislation crafted by SenateForeign Relations Committee
chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) continued onWednesday, working its way through some of the
dozens of amendmentsfiled by Republicans.
Despite Zarif's claims, under the current version of Corker's bill ifthe House and Senate both pass
resolutions "stating in substance thatthe Congress does not favor the agreement," and the Senate
overcomes apossible presidential veto, then Obama would be unable to lift thoseIran sanctions that
are mandated by Congress.
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