Tom Cotton made his name in Washington as an outspoken critic of a Democratic president\u2019s deal to check Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/p>\n

Now, with a president of his own party angling toward a similarly structured agreement, the Arkansas Republican is so far using a softer voice.<\/p>\n

Cotton<\/a>, the No. 3 Senate Republican and Intelligence Committee chair, is not alone among GOP defense hawks in finding himself in an awkward position<\/a> more than a decade after lambasting President Barack Obama\u2019s Iran deal.<\/p>\n

But the combination of his prior ferocity toward the Iranian regime and his current leadership responsibilities have put him into an especially tight spot as President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance sell their 14-point \u201cmemorandum of understanding\u201d<\/a> to skeptical Republicans.<\/p>\n

Cotton moved toward critiquing that framework in a Fox News interview Thursday, crediting Trump for \u201cmaking Iran weaker than it\u2019s been in decades\u201d while airing concerns that \u201ccertain aspects of this deal are a step in the wrong direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to make sure that we don\u2019t squander the leverage that we\u2019ve built\u201d against Iran, he said.<\/p>\n

That is a far cry from the rhetoric Cotton deployed as a freshman senator in 2015, when Obama was moving in concert with other global powers to force Iran to curb its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief and other economic favors.<\/p>\n

Cotton led a brash effort to undermine the deal \u2014 most notably by organizing a public letter<\/a> signed by 46 other GOP senators to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, then the supreme leader of Iran, warning that \u201canything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement\u201d that could be nixed by a future administration.<\/p>\n

The letter enraged the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, but it was prescient.<\/p>\n

After he was elected in 2016, Trump withdrew from the deal<\/a>, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, setting the stage for his second-term military campaign against Iran that he is now seeking to end by trading curbs on Iran\u2019s nuclear program for sanctions relief and other economic favors.<\/p>\n

If that was the only jam Cotton was facing from Trump this week, it would be plenty. But the discomfiting Iran situation has been compounded by the president\u2019s recent moves to upend Cotton\u2019s careful negotiations aimed at extending a key surveillance program for three years.<\/p>\n

After Trump blew up that deal by appointing a political ally<\/a> to a top intelligence position, Cotton moved quickly to fast-track a permanent replacement through his committee and rekindle the surveillance deal \u2014 only to watch Trump blow things up once again<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Majority Leader John Thune<\/a>, like most Senate Republicans, had nothing but praise this week for the \u201cgreat job\u201d Cotton was doing amid the tumult over the expired spy law and the director of national intelligence drama.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a really strong chair on the committee. And he had it all teed up and ready to go,\u201d Thune said in an interview. \u201cNow it’s just \u2026 back to the drawing board.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cotton\u2019s moves amid the back-and-forth \u2014 particularly his decision to publicly announce a hearing would move forward Wednesday for DNI nominee Jay Clayton even after Trump publicly declared he was \u201ccancelling\u201d it \u2014 attracted attention on the right.<\/p>\n

Former Trump strategist Steve Bannon voiced blistering criticism<\/a> of Cotton, calling him \u201cout of control\u201d and suggesting he \u201cshould be turfed out\u201d of his safe seat over trying to proceed with the hearing. Cotton is up for reelection and expected to win easily.<\/p>\n

Cotton backtracked, postponing the hearing while noting that it was \u201cregrettable\u201d that Trump directed Clayton not to appear. The White House didn\u2019t respond to questions about Cotton.<\/p>\n

Thune defended Cotton, saying he was \u201coperating within his rights and prerogatives” as chair in insisting, however briefly, that the hearing would go on.<\/p>\n

Unlike most GOP senators, Cotton is unusually tight-lipped around the Capitol, enforcing a blanket \u201cno comment\u201d policy in the hallways this week as reporters tried several times to ask him about everything from the surveillance program to Clayton to Iran. His office did not respond to an interview request.<\/p>\n

Cotton has plenty of supporters within the Senate Republican conference, where he is well-liked and won a contested race for the No. 3 leadership spot. And his quick rise through the party has generated speculation that he could one day become Senate GOP leader or run for president.<\/p>\n

It’s not lost on Republicans that even the straight-talking 49-year-old<\/a>, who was under consideration for a Trump Cabinet position, has found himself crosswise with the administration. That speaks to the larger issues the Senate GOP is facing as the president\u2019s rash decisions complicate their carefully laid plans<\/a>, they say.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Cotton is surely, surely a big fan and supporter of the president,\u201d Sen. Lisa Murkowski<\/a> (R-Alaska) said. But, she added, \u201che\u2019s got a committee to run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cotton is also hardly alone among his GOP colleagues in voicing concerns about the memorandum of understanding signed by Iran and the United States.<\/p>\n

Though there are now more senators with MAGA-aligned \u201cAmerica First\u201d foreign policy instincts than a decade ago, Cotton is part of a still-prominent pack of national security hawks that include the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham<\/a> of South Carolina and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell<\/a> of Kentucky, who recruited Cotton to run in 2014.<\/p>\n

Sen. Roger Wicker<\/a> (R-Miss.), who chairs the Armed Services Committee, went even further than Cotton in a Thursday statement that said the agreement is \u201ccompletely out of step with the president\u2019s goals.\u201d And Sen. John Cornyn<\/a> (R-Texas), a member of Cotton\u2019s committee, predicted that the agreement would only be an “intermission” in Iran\u2019s decadeslong conflict with the United States and Israel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey get $300 billion \u2014 it’s not going to be for constructive or useful purposes,\u201d Cornyn said, a reference to a \u201creconstruction fund\u201d included in the agreement.<\/p>\n

Cotton aired concerns about multiple financial concessions included in the Trump-signed memorandum, including a new allowance for Iran to conduct oil sales that he estimated would provide as much as $6 billion a month<\/p>\n

\u201cThat money \u2026 we know is not going to build new hospitals or day cares,\u201d Cotton said Thursday on KTHV<\/a>, a Little Rock TV station. \u201cIt\u2019s going to go to replenish their drone stockpiles, their missiles, to support terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"