ED HENRY, FOX NEWS: How serious is this tonight, the president and the Pentagon authorizing 1,000 more U.S. troops to the middle east? SEN. TOM COTTON: Ed, this kind of deployment is a prudent measure to build up the force protection posture and the permanent base bases in the region, like in Qatar and Bahrain, as well as contingency forces we have in places like Iraq. It will help with the surveillance for the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman against unprovoked attacks on the commercial shipping on the high seas that Iran conducted with the two tankers or in a port laps month against four tankers. ED HENRY: Before this announcement, the "New York Times" said in an editorial the incident is the latest evidence that the United States and Iran are on a collision course, at a moment that hardliners on both sides have little interest in any diplomatic off-ramp. I wonder what you think in the next 12 months we will be talking about a hot war in the middle east? TOM COTTON: Ed, if the United States and Iran are on a collision course it's only because Iran continues
