On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-WA) said that keeping the blockade of Iranian oil would have kept “choking out the economic lifeblood of the [IRGC]. That would put additional pressure on Iran. But I also realize the realities of this five-month window of leverage with the upcoming elections, the impacts on global oil prices.”
Co-host Boris Sanchez asked, “Notably, Iran has only agreed to let them in, inspectors are not yet in the country. We don’t know what they’re going to have access to. And yet, today, the administration signed a 60-day waiver allowing Iran to make billions of dollars in oil sales. What is stopping Tehran from using that money to replenish depleted weapons, to support Hezbollah, etc.?”
Baumgartner answered, “Well, it would have been my preference that the U.S. would have maintained its blockade of Iranian oil. I think we were choking out the economic lifeblood of the [IRGC]. That would put additional pressure on Iran. But I also realize the realities of this five-month window of leverage with the upcoming elections, the impacts on global oil prices. So, the administration, again, no one has been tougher on Iran than President Trump. He’s the one that put Qasem Soleimani in the dirt, put the ayatollah in the dirt, and buried their nuclear program under a mountain of dirt. So, I think he has a lot of credibility. I don’t think he’s going to get bamboozled by the Iranian regime. So, we’ll see what happens in the next 60 days. There are some political realities here, but I think America is in a strong position, and we have a lot of tools at our disposal.”
Baumgartner added that “we’ve reduced their ballistic missile program, knocked back their proxies.”
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