By U.S. Senator Jerry Moran, member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
Iran’s leaders regularly espouse the goal of eradicating the state of Israel. Earlier this month, Iran acted on that goal, launching for the first time an attack on Israel from its own soil. Iranian leaders have threatened future responses from Iranian territory.
A line has been crossed. This attack and any future escalation pose a threat to Israel and regional stability, as well as to U.S. troops stationed in the region.
Just as concerning: Iran is increasing its defense cooperation with Russia and China, participating in military exercises with both countries, and pursuing advanced military equipment from and to Moscow.
Meanwhile, the Iranian regime continues to provide support to terrorist groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Gaza, where Israel continues its battle against those responsible for the Oct. 7 attack. Iran also has the technical capability to develop a nuclear weapon if the Supreme Leader orders it.
But Iran’s nefarious plans require funding, and the regime’s economy is heavily dependent on oil exports, which represent up to 70% of its government revenues. By cutting off Iran’s lucrative oil market, we can drain their terrorist slush funds and weaken Iran’s ability to promote further violence.
Since 2010, Congress has passed numerous bipartisan laws to restrict Iran’s oil exports. In the last six months alone, there have been more than 100 bills introduced in Congress aimed at diminishing Iranian oil sales.
Nonetheless, it is the responsibility of the president to enforce these sanctions, and the Biden administration has failed to do so in any meaningful way.
After the Trump administration withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and began its “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimated that Iran’s crude oil fell from 2.5 million barrels per day in 2017 to a mere 400,000 in 2020.
The Biden administration recently announced plans to impose new sanctions on Iran, stating, “These new sanctions and other measures will continue a steady drumbeat of pressure to contain and degrade Iran’s military capacity and effectiveness.”
Yet this administration has steadily reduced pressure on Iran and failed to enforce bipartisan sanctions already in place — allowing Iran to return to exporting 1.6 to 1.8 million barrels of oil a day.
I have no confidence in the White House to enforce these new sanctions. Posturing and using one-word phrases mean nothing to Iran.
Six months have passed since the greatest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust, and Iranian oil prices and production have reached a multi-year high. Since then, an Iran-backed group killed three American servicemembers, and another has effectively closed the Red Sea to commercial shipping. Iranian intelligence continues to plot to assassinate U.S. officials. Whatever goodwill the president hoped to earn from Tehran by looking the other way on sanctions, his policy has only reaped chaos.
The greatest beneficiary of Biden’s policy, besides Iran, is China, which is the primary customer of Iran’s oil — buying up to 90% of it at a substantial discount. This, in turn, supports China’s economy and its rapid military modernization that is a threat to the Indo-Pacific region.
U.S. officials “have privately acknowledged a gradual relaxation of enforcement on Iranian oil sales.” Any relaxation of congressionally-mandated sanctions against Iran while our trusted allies in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific endure threats to their security and stability is wholly unacceptable.
To be sure, sanctions alone are not a panacea to the Iran challenge. They are one tool to be coupled with military and diplomatic pressure to achieve the outcomes we seek. But they are a tool to be wielded. It is far past time for Biden to do so.