Iran's Zarif and Republican Senator Cotton face off in Twitter battle

Republican senator challenges Zarif to a debate on Iran's "tyranny, treachery and terror."

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Updated: APRIL 9, 2018 11:34
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif talks with reporters before meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva in January. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif talks with reporters before meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva in January.
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to a series of tweets by Republican Senator Tom Cotton on Thursday, accusing the Arkansas lawmaker of employing "macho personal smear," rather than serious diplomacy.
Cotton has been one of the loudest voices against the emerging nuclear deal with Iran and gained notoriety when he spearheaded a letter signed by 47 senators to Iran's leaders last month, warning that an agreement reached with US President Barack Obama would not necessarily be honored by future American leaders. Zarif commented at the time that the Republican senator's contention that Iran's leaders did not understand the US Constitution was condescending.
Zarif called Cotton out during remarks he made at NYU University in New York on Wednesday, in which he said that the UN sanctions against Iran would be lifted with the reaching of a comprehensive nuclear deal "whether Senator Tom Cotton likes it or not."

Cotton then took to Twitter, challenging Zarif to a debate on the Constitution and on "Iran's record of tyranny, treachery and terror."

He then questioned Zarif's courage, saying that the Iranian FM had "hid in US during Iran-Iraq war while peasants & kids were marched to die."

On Thursday, Zarif answered Cotton's attacks, while congratulating the senator on the birth of his new baby.



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