The real reason Joe Biden won’t punish Iran

FOX News-Feb6th2024

opinion by By Liz Peek

Is President Joe Biden scared of starting a broader war if he attacks Iran? Or is he worried about gasoline prices going up, torching his reelection bid?

The pusillanimous response of Biden to attacks on U.S. Troops have enraged critics. Many want the president, who pledged to hold accountable “all those responsible” for the deaths of three U.S. soldiers, to strike Iran. To go after the head of the snake and squash Tehran’s ability to fund and train the terrorists who continue to attack us. S. Personnel.

He won’t do it. Why? Because he’s scared to death that hitting Iran’s oil fields or export facilities would drive global oil prices higher, and boost the cost of gasoline in the U.S. Gas at the pump might go back to $5 per gallon, a record reached in 2022; Biden, already a massively unpopular president, cannot tolerate that. Nothing drags down his approval ratings faster than skyrocketing prices at the pump; in an election year, he will do everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen.

This, folks, is the elephant in the room.

GAS PRICES INCREASE IN SYNCH WITH OIL COSTS AND GROWING DEMAND

Consider: war in the Middle East has always caused oil prices to soar. Astonishingly, today’s $72 per barrel price of West Texas crude oil is actually below where it was trading the day before all Hell broke loose in Israel on October 7. Why is this time different? Because everyone understands Biden’s self-serving game, but few will say it out loud.

Part of the reason oil prices globally have been fairly stable over the past year, and that gasoline prices in the U.S. have held steady, is that Biden’s team allowed Iran’s exports to increase by half a million barrels per day, surging to a five-year high. Iran was one of the main sources of extra global production in 2023, even though tough Trump-era sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports remain in place. Biden’s team has simply chosen not to enforce them.

Worse, the White House lied about it. Janet Yellen told reporters last year, after the October 7 attacks, “We have not in any way relaxed our sanctions on Iranian oil.” That was false. One month later, White House adviser Amos Hochstein said on Bloomberg TV about Iran’s oil exports, then running at one million barrels per day, that “Those numbers will come down.” That never happened.

Note that the 2023 jump in exports earned Tehran about $10 billion in extra revenues. Ten billion dollars can buy a lot of weapons, especially when combined with another $10 billion in Iraqi-held funds that Biden handed over to Tehran via a special “waiver” from sanctions.  That transfer, incredibly, took place after Iran-backed Hamas attacked Israel.

It isn’t just our dealings with Iran that have been undermined by Biden’s fear of higher gas prices. Foreign policy regarding Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, has also been (mis)guided by this one imperative.

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https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/real-reason-joe-biden-wont-punish-iran