Lax Sanctions Enforcement Has Yielded a Windfall for Iran

Excerpt

Hamas’ horrific attack on Israel has prompted a debate within Washington about U.S. policy toward Hamas’ top external patron—and the world’s foremost state sponsor of terrorism—the  Islamic Republic of Iran. Most of the attention has been on the $6 billion in Iranian assets that had been unfrozen as part of a hostage deal, termed by others as ransom. The U.S. and Qatar announced Thursday that those funds would not be released. But that controversy risks overshadowing a larger issue: Iran has made tens of billions of dollars from oil sales thanks to the Biden administration’s reluctance to enforce sanctions.

The lax sanctions enforcement stems from not only a political desire to punt the Iran problem to 2024, but also to try to restore what at this point appears to be a lesser version of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).  When the Biden administration entered office, Iranian intransigence was not the only hurdle to restoring the JCPOA. The Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran had involved a “sanctions wall” of non-nuclear penalties predicated on non-nuclear threats rooted in Iranian policy that were layered on existing nuclear sanctions. 

Dr. Saeed Ghasseminejad is a senior Iran and financial economics advisor at FDD specializing in Iran’s economy and financial markets, sanctions and illicit finance. Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues. FDD is a nonpartisan research organization focusing on national security and foreign policy.