Former White House officials and Middle East experts are expressing concern over the Trump administration’s move to lift sanctions on Iranian oil sales through August, warning that Tehran will gain significant revenue it could use for malign activities before it demonstrates concrete progress on its diplomatic commitments.
On Monday, the U.S. Treasury Department issued a temporary 60-day license authorizing the production, delivery and sale of Iranian oil. It marks the first time since Washington imposed strict energy sanctions on Iran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iranian oil can be legally imported into the U.S. and purchased using U.S. dollars.
“It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to guess what this oil revenue will be used for,” said Dan Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel under President Barack Obama. “It won’t be used to benefit the Iranian people. This early concession is just further evidence of how badly the United States conceded leverage to Iran in Trump’s misguided war. We are paying dearly now just to get the Strait of Hormuz reopened.”
“Why give them the money to stabilize the regime and start rebuilding their military before they have done anything at all on their nuclear program?” asked Elliott Abrams, who served as special envoy for Iran during the first Trump administration. “Why do we just get promises while they get billions?”
