White House Concerned About Russia’s Oil for Goods Deal with Iran

Reports that Russia and Iran were negotiating a multi-billion dollar backdoor trade deal that could undermine upcoming nuclear negotiations with Tehran is a matter of “serious concern”, the White House admitted last night.

The $1.5 billion-a-month oil-for-goods deal was first revealed in news reports last week and threatens to undermine the credibility of White House claims that Iran would receive only $7bn in phased and reversible sanctions relief in exchange for nuclear concessions, experts said.

In a sign of the potential seriousness of the sanctions-busting agreement, John Kerry, the US secretary of state has personally raised the issue of the deal with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the White House added.

…

Mark Dubowitz of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, a think-tank that released a report last week showing Iran's economy already starting to recover, said Russia's actions were a “serious challenge” to Mr Obama's pledge to vigorously enforce existing sanctions.

“The administration is facing a real test from Moscow which, if not addressed, will embolden other sanctions busters and make it more difficult to resolve peacefully the Iranian nuclear crisis,” he said.