Oil Is Why Biden Will Not Punish Iran

The pusillanimous response of Biden to attacks on U.S. troops has enraged critics. Many want the president, who pledged to hold accountable "all those responsible" for the deaths of three U.S. soldiers, to strike Iran. To go after the head of the snake and squash Tehran’s ability to fund and train the terrorists who continue to attack U. S. personnel.

He won’t do it. Why? Because he’s scared to death that hitting Iran’s oil fields or export facilities would drive global oil prices higher, and boost the cost of gasoline in the U.S. Gas at the pump might go back to $5 per gallon, a record reached in 2022; Biden, already a massively unpopular president, cannot tolerate that. Nothing drags down his approval ratings faster than skyrocketing prices at the pump; in an election year, he will do everything possible to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Consider: war in the Middle East has always caused oil prices to soar. Astonishingly, today’s $72 per barrel price of West Texas crude oil is actually below where it was trading the day before all Hell broke loose in Israel on October 7. Why is this time different? Because everyone understands Biden’s self-serving game, but few will say it out loud.

Part of the reason oil prices globally have been fairly stable over the past year, and that gasoline prices in the U.S. have held steady, is that Biden’s team allowed Iran’s exports to increase by half a million barrels per day, surging to a five-year high. Iran was one of the main sources of extra global production in 2023, even though tough Trump-era sanctions on Tehran’s oil exports remain in place. Biden’s team has simply chosen not to enforce them.

Americans do not like being embarrassed on the world stage. We don’t like our country to look weak. Jimmy Carter found that out, when he failed to rescue U.S. hostages held in Tehran and was subsequently bounced out of office. Biden may face the same fate this coming November.