Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton on Thursday said Secretary of State John Kerry's actions while negotiating the Iran nuclear agreement were like those of the judge who is said to have ordered the crucifixion of Jesus.

By agreeing to the "side" deals, Kerry "acted like Pontius Pilate," the Republican senator said on Morning Joe.

Cotton and other Republicans who oppose the deal have criticized the White House for not immediately disclosing side deals between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"So the State Department has confirmed now, finally, that those agreements do, in fact, exist, but they have not told us the contents of those agreements," Cotton said. "So unless Congress gets the contents of these agreements and knows, for example, how the IAEA plans to inspect the Parchin military site, I don't see how any member of Congress could vote for this deal, because it's based on verification and inspection. And without that information, I don't see how we can trust the government of Iran."

Kerry agreed to the deals "knowing that Congress would not get this information unless someone went out to find it," Cotton added.

U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice told reporters Wednesday about the so-called agreements.

"We're satisfied with them and we will share the contents of those briefings in full in a classified session with the Congress," Rice said. "So there's nothing in that regard that we know that they won't know."