July 7, 2014 | Quote
Obama Could Use Iraq Crisis To Ease Oil Sanctions On Iran, Warns Security Expert
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Further pressure on oil supplies could cause oil prices to spike, making it more tempting for the White House to consider lifting sanctions on Iran to put more supply on the global market. This would be a bad idea says former Cheney security adviser John Hannah.
“There could be that danger, that temptation,” Hannah told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “Given how important this Iranian deal looks to them on the nuclear front, I think the prospect of easing sanctions on Iran and on Iran’s return on global energy markets… the probability is pretty high.”
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“They were looking for an excuse, looking for an achievement in terms of these nuclear negotiations in order to begin easing sanctions, looking for some grand deal,” said Hannah, who is currently a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“I would never do a deal with the Iranians on the assumption that they’re going to be our allies and saviors in Iraq,” Hannah said. “I think that’s a fool’s errand. Iran has probably just as much U.S. blood on their hands in Iraq as al-Qaida does.”
Hannah is not the only one who worries that President Obama would consider sanctions relief in return for aiding Iraq in its fight against ISIS. Israel expressed similar fears that such a deal could be made between the U.S. and Iran.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew tried to ease some of Israel’s concerns that the U.S. would waver on Iranian sanctions to cut a deal in Iraq.
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