Sen. Tom Cotton is calling on the Obama administration to keep open the possibility of airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, emphasizing that this could take the form of a targeted attack over several days rather than a massive engagement.

The Arkansas Republican said the military campaign he envisions would not be the kind of all-out conflict President Barack Obama has repeatedly warned against. Instead, he said it would look much like Operation Desert Fox, the December 1998 military campaign ordered by President Bill Clinton in which the United States and Britain bombed Iraq for four days in response to Saddam Hussein's refusal to comply with United Nations inspection requirements.

The four-day operation involved "air and naval bombing against Iraq's weapons of mass destruction facilities for exactly the same kind of behavior – for interfering with weapons inspectors and for disobeying Security Council resolutions. All we're asking is that the president simply be as tough as in the protection of America's national security interest as Bill Clinton was," Cotton said in an interview with the Family Research Council's program "Washington Watch With Tony Perkins."

The interview was first reported by Buzzfeed.

Cotton, a veteran of combat tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Obama's assertion that the real alternative to his deal with Iran is going to war is a "false choice."

"The president has a bad habit of accusing other people of making false choices, but he presented the ultimate false choice last week when he said 'it's either this deal or war,' " Cotton said.

In an interview with CNN last week, Cotton said he believes that Iran most likely takes an Israeli threat to attack its nuclear facilities more seriously than it does a military threat from the United States right now.

Cotton said Obama's unfulfilled vow in 2012 to use military force against Syria if it used chemical weapons in its civil war has damaged U.S. credibility.

"The president drew a red line in Syria, then erased it," Cotton said. "I don't think Iran or most other countries in the region believe the United States is willing to take military action to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon."

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