On Friday’s “Hugh Hewitt Show,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) stated that the Biden administration isn’t sanctioning Russian oil in part because they’re relying on Russia to mediate a deal with Iran.
Host Hugh Hewitt asked, “The president will not sanction Russian oil. There are only three explanations: green fanaticism on climate change, I don’t think that’s it. Because they actually like higher oil prices, fear of political red wave, or Russia’s role in Vienna. And Russia is mediating our ‘deal,’ our collapse in Vienna. Is that why we’re not sanctioning Russian oil?”
Rubio responded, “Yep, bingo. I mean, that’s — the third one, I think, is a big part of it.”
He continued, “I think the administration is still trying to figure out okay, what can we do to sanction Russian oil without adding to the increase in gas prices to Americans? And the other is what you said. And by the way, there’s a collateral, an ancillary to the thing about the deal with Iran, and that is that, if you lift sanctions, that means there will be Iranian oil entering the marketplace. And something to keep an eye on here is I think that the Russians have an economic incentive at this moment to sort of delay that deal. Because they don’t — Russian oil’s already being sold at a discount in the market given how difficult it is to transact business and payment to them right now. So, the last thing they want is to see oil prices go down because suddenly, there’s a new supplier in the marketplace. That new supplier should be us.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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