Contact: Caroline Rabbitt (202) 243-2353

Washington, D.C.- Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today released the following statement on Iran's detention of 10 U.S. Sailors and two U.S. Navy ships:

"No one should be surprised by Iran's behavior today-after all, Iran has been overtly hostile toward the United States for months by conducting ballistic missile tests, imprisoning more American hostages, and firing rockets near U.S. warships. President Obama should communicate to the ayatollahs that unless they immediately release our sailors and boats, the United States will nullify the Iran nuclear deal and take all necessary measures to recover the servicemembers they've apprehended. That the president refuses to even call this brazen seizure a hostile act shows how far he is willing to go to coddle and appease the ayatollahs in order to preserve his flawed nuclear deal. The president needs to stop apologizing for the Iranians and focus on getting our sailors back. And even he must now realize that his diplomacy has not moderated Iran-it has emboldened it. And an emboldened Iran on the path toward nuclear weapons capability endangers our servicemembers, our partners in the Middle East, and the American people."