Amid growing calls for the U.S. to ban Russian oil imports, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is suggesting that turning to a state sponsor of terrorism to offset rising prices is not off the table.
During an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday night, Buttigieg was asked, “Could the president possibly consider authorizing the Keystone Pipeline, working something out with Iran?”
“I mean, look, the president has said that all options are on the table,” Buttigieg responded. “But we also need to make sure that we’re not galloping after permanent solutions to immediate short term problems where more strategic and tactical actions in the short term can make a difference.”
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Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are calling for the U.S. to ban Russian oil to punish the country and hopefully halt its invasion of Ukraine. And President Joe Biden told reporters that “nothing is off the table” when he was asked if the U.S. would take such a move.
Cutting off Russian oil would likely lead to even higher gas prices.
But buying gas from Iran, which sponsors acts of terrorism around the globe, to alleviate price increases is not the answer when the U.S. can ramp up its domestic oil production.
And it’s not unreasonable to expect that revenues from oil sales would go toward furthering support of terrorism either.
Back in 2016, when sanctions on Iran were lifted, after international inspectors determined it made good on its promise to dismantle parts of its nuclear program, then-Secretary of State John Kerry told CNBC that “some” of the money Iran would receive from sanctions relief would probably “end up in the hands of the IRGC or other entities, some of which are labeled terrorists.”
“You know, to some degree, I’m not going to sit here and tell you that every component of that can be prevented,” he added.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) shared Buttigieg’s response and wrote, “Team Biden would rather fund the Ayatollah’s Death to America regime than allow Americans to produce energy for our own domestic consumption.”
Buttigieg was criticized for his response by others as well:
Cutting off Russian gas is a good move. The U.S. and its allies should not be handing Russia millions while it indiscriminately bombs civilian areas in Ukraine.
And even if prices surge to levels not seen in decades, it would be better to pay higher prices than start handing millions of dollars to Iran.