Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) said Monday that he is "truly shocked" the Obama administration misled the American people on the Iran nuclear deal.
Cotton was responding to a question from Washington Free Beacon reporter Adam Kredo, who asked the senator about a new Associated Press report regarding a secret document that shows key nuclear constraints on Iran will be removed in a little over a decade.
Removing these restrictions would halve the time Iran would need to build a bomb, according to the AP.
The document is the only secret text linked to last year’s agreement between Iran and six foreign powers. It says that after a period between 11 to 13 years, Iran can replace its 5,060 inefficient centrifuges with up to 3,500 advanced machines.
Since those are five times as efficient, the time Iran would need to make a weapon would drop from a year to six months.
Iran says its enrichment is peaceful, but the program could be used for nuclear warheads.
Cotton said he could not provide a response on a breaking news report, but said he would not be surprised to see those constraints removed in 10 years or see Iran violate the restrictions.
"I am shocked that the administration might have misled the American people about the Iran deal," Cotton said.
Cotton added that Iran is already testing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles in violation of United Nations Security Council resolutions.
"This is what Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and German intelligence services were discussing in part a couple weeks ago when they said that Iran is violating the nuclear deal and the associated U.N. Security Council resolutions," Cotton said.
"Iran has plenty of missiles that can reach their adversaries in Sunni countries or in Israel. There’s only one reason for them to be testing long-range ballistic missiles, and that is to hold at risk first Europe, and ultimately the United States of America," he added.