Ernst demands Biden enforce sanctions against Iranian oil tankers, oil buyers

President Joe Biden must enforce mandatory sanctions against the growing fleet of oil tankers selling Iranian oil and the entities purchasing the oil, said U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and nine of her colleagues in a Jan. 27 letter sent to the president.

The senators pointed out that the terrorism-funding National Iranian Oil Company is subject to U.S. terrorism sanctions and bipartisan laws enacted by Congress in 2011 and 2012 targeting Iran’s oil exports and energy sector require the U.S. president to enforce those sanctions.

However, despite these sanctions remaining in place, there has been a “disturbing rise in Iranian oil exports” since the Biden administration began, wrote Sen. Ernst and her colleagues, who noted that twice in 2021, Iranian oil exports exceeded 1.4 million barrels per day, with three-quarters of it exported to China.

“These Chinese purchases give the Iranian regime a vital lifeline and flout U.S. sanctions with impunity,” wrote Sen. Ernst and the lawmakers. “While your administration has reportedly warned China and other countries about the sanctions risks to their companies, these entities remain unpunished.”

The senators also pointed out that the vessel owners and their customers in China are taking greater risks because they think that the Biden administration “is too weak and indecisive to punish them for their crimes.”

“It is long past time to stop your dithering,” they told the president. “You are putting U.S. national security at risk.”

Sen. Ernst and her colleagues urged Biden to enforce the U.S. sanctions against entities that purchase Iranian oil and the foreign-flagged oil tankers transporting it, saying that “each day you delay gives Iran more money to finance their terrorist activity and more time to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Among the lawmakers who joined Sen. Ernst in signing the letter were U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Thom Tillis (R-NC).