Senate Intel Chair Cotton: 'We have to be prepared for Iran to retaliate'

Cotton also said the U.S. is not "seeking regime change."

The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday that the United States must "be prepared for Iran to retaliate" following Saturday night's strikes targeting three Iranian nuclear facilities.

"We have troops in the region. Iran has targeted Americans around the world, Marine barracks in Beirut, in barracks in Saudi Arabia. They've targeted embassies of countries around the world," Cotton, R-Arkansas, said in an exclusive interview on ABC News' "This Week." "The threats are serious and we take them seriously. President Trump has no higher priority, as do I and the safety of the American people."

Cotton echoed President Donald Trump's warning to Iran to opt for peace instead, saying that if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "targets Americans with military force, he will see, will make last night look like child's play."

Trump described Saturday night's strikes against Iran as "a spectacular military success" that had "completely and totally obliterated" Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities.

In his interview with "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Cotton said the full damage assessment was still underway, citing comments from Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine earlier Sunday. But, he added, "There's no doubt that because of the president's decisive action, we have severely damaged Iran's critical nuclear infrastructure."

"The supreme leader and the ayatollahs in Iran need to understand that President Trump means business. They have a chance to sue for peace here, to dismantle whatever remnants of their nuclear program remain, and to continue to actually survive, because we haven't targeted the supreme leader, we haven't targeted their energy infrastructure, we haven't targeted other critical infrastructure," Cotton said. "That's an implicit message that Iran still has things that they hold dear, that neither the -- neither the United States nor Israel has struck. Iran needs to heed President Trump's warning."

"And if Iran retaliates, should the United States target the supreme leader?" Karl asked.

"I won't rule any single target in or out," Cotton said. "He [Trump] was not bluffing. He does not bluff. And there are still numerous targets that Iran holds very dear. ... My message to the Supreme Leader is look at the lessons of history. Do not — do not tempt fate. Do not target Americans. Heed Donald Trump's warning."

Karl pressed further on whether regime change in Iran is the goal.

"That's not President Trump's military objective," Cotton said. "We are not pursuing regime change. We're not trying to put any troops on the ground into Iran. We are trying to eliminate their nuclear weapons program, and by destroying three critical nuclear facilities, we've taken huge steps in that direction."

But back in 2017, the Arkansas senator told POLITICO, "The policy of the United States should be regime change in Iran. ... I don’t see how anyone can say America can be safe as long as you have in power a theocratic despotism."

"Has your view changed?" Karl asked.

"Well, as long as Iran's leaders continue to terrorize Americans after these strikes, then no, America won't be safe from the Iran threat. That's the point that President Trump made last night," Cotton said. "We're not going to invade Iran. We're not going to try to topple their government or try to replace it with a new government. As [Israeli] Prime Minister Netanyahu has said, the Iranian leaders are so hated by their own people, have so failed to deliver positive results for their own people, that that might be the end of this. But that's not the American policy."