On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby stated that the Biden administration has been enforcing sanctions on Iranian oil, but “Iranian oil is still on the market, and it is a global market. Supply and demand have to be balanced.”
Co-host Bret Baier said, “[M]oney is fungible. You get $6 billion over here for humanitarian and food, so then you can move money someplace else, and then you have the not enforcing sanctions that allows Iran to cash in on its oil around the world.”
Kirby responded, “Bret, with all due respect, I’ve just got to push back on you there. It’s not that we’re not enforcing sanctions. We have been enforcing them. As a matter of fact, we’ve added sanctions. We’ve sanctioned 400 entities in Iran, just in the beginning of this administration, let alone the sanctions that came before us. And as for the fungibility, again, that money was never going to be tapped by the Iranian regime. They were never going to see it themselves. It was always going to go to vendors that we approved, to go to buy humanitarian assistance, medical, and food, to get directly to the Iranian people. The regime was never going to see that or feel that, and they haven’t asked for it. And the other thing I’ll say, Bret, just before we get off this topic –.”
Baier then cut in to say, “I want to push back on one thing. You said that the sanctions are being enforced. The Iranian exports of oil to China, 2020, 6.6 billion. 2021, 23.1 billion. 2022, $30 billion. So, how is that enforcing the sanctions on Iran?”
Kirby responded, “We’re mindful that Iranian oil is still on the market, and it is a global market. Supply and demand have to be balanced. But I’m telling you that we are enforcing the sanctions and we’re adding sanctions to the regime.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.