Russia Oil Talks Pose New Hurdle to Iran Nuke Pact

Reports of multibillion-dollar oil talks between Iran and Russia are emerging as the latest obstacle to a comprehensive pact eliminating the threat of an Iranian nuclear arsenal. The Obama administration is weighing potentially deal-breaking sanctions if a contract is completed.

Russian business daily Kommersant reported Russia plans to buy 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil a day, shattering an export limit under the interim nuclear agreement world powers and Iran reached last year. Moscow and Tehran are far from finalizing the contract, the paper said, but the U.S. has expressed alarm.

The arrangement would break the interim agreement reached in November in Geneva and potentially trigger U.S. sanctions, said the official.

Critics of the Obama administration’s outreach to Iran want a clear marker outlined.

In a letter to the president Monday, Congress’ leading sanctions drafters said the U.S. must re-impose all penalties on Iran suspended under the interim pact if Russia and Iran move forward. “We urge you to put Iran on notice,” said Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, said Iran and Russia were testing America’s resolve. “The administration must be prepared to restore all sanctions if Iran cheats,” he said.

The six-month interim agreement, which went into effect in January and expires in July, allows Iran to continue exporting a total of 1 million barrels a day of oil to six countries: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. Washington pledged no financial penalties against them as long as they weren’t boosting purchases.

But the promise didn’t apply to Russia, which wasn’t an existing customer of Iran’s petroleum industry. And the Obama administration has been raising its concern with Moscow for months about any moves that would lessen the economic pressure on Iran.

Any concrete progress on the oil-for-goods proposal would put President Barack Obama in a bind. If he publicly threatens too forceful a response, he risks opening up a new rift with Russia at a time the two countries are trying to maintain cooperation on nuclear and other matters even as they go through one of the worst crises in decades related to Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula.

But if the administration fails to dissuade Russia and Iran from moving forward, the interim agreement that forms the basis of America’s ongoing diplomacy with Iran would be undermined. The U.S. and the United Nations say Iran is living up to its commitments thus far, and officials have expressed increased belief a final deal may be taking shape, averting the possibility of a future military confrontation.

This article appeared in print on page 4 of the April 9th, 2014 edition of Hamodia.