Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) on Monday called for the U.S. to work with its European allies to define and publicize "severe" punishments for Iran if the Islamic Republic takes steps to violate or exploit flaws in the nuclear deal that it struck in 2015.
Cotton, a vocal critic of the Iran nuclear deal, explained how he would strengthen the agreement during an interview at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's annual policy conference in Washington, D.C.
ABC News senior national correspondent Claire Shipman asked Cotton whether the nuclear accord can be "fixed" and how the U.S. should go about it.
Cotton said the idea of renegotiating the deal with Iran is impractical, opting instead for a separate agreement between the U.S. and its European allies to punish Tehran if it takes certain actions.
"Well, I don't think that we can sit down with the ayatollahs and try to renegotiate a new deal," Cotton said. "That's not going to be successful."
"What we can do is, [the] United States and in concert with Europe, is say, 'These are the flaws with the deal that the last administration negotiated, and this what we're going to do if Iran ever goes beyond, say, the number and the kinds of centrifuges it's spinning or the missiles that it's testing, so on and so forth,'" Cotton continued. "That doesn't require us to go back to Iran to negotiate a deal. It just says if Iran takes these actions, which unfortunately they are in many cases allowed to do under the nuclear deal, we will take these very severe punitive actions as well."
"And make that public?" Shipman asked.
"Oh yeah, make that public," Cotton responded, adding that Congress can pass legislation and the U.S. can reach a deal with France, Germany, and the United Kingdom to make those commitments.
Shipman then asked Cotton about Iran's "regional aggression" in the Middle East and whether the U.S. has a strategy to counter it. Cotton said that the Trump administration has improved upon the Obama administration's policy toward Iran but still has work to do.
"The most fundamental point is that this administration sees Iran for what it is: an aggressive, theocratic regime that is exporting violence and instability around the region," Cotton said. "So there's still some more practical steps to take, but we've come a long way in the last 18 months."