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Is Iran about to Violate the Interim Deal?
(Washington Post) Jennifer Rubin - Vladimir Putin is edging toward a deal with Iran that would make a mockery of the P5+1 interim agreement with Iran. News reports confirm that "Russia could exchange nonmonetary goods for up to 500,000 barrels of Iranian petroleum each day under the possible arrangement, which may ultimately pave the way for as much as $20 billion in trade." The State Department acknowledges that the deal would violate the interim deal. The recent reports prompted Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) to write to President Obama, telling him, "If Iran moves forward with this effort to evade U.S. sanctions and violate the terms of oil sanctions relief provided for in JPA [the interim agreement with Iran], the United States should respond by re-instating the crude oil sanctions, rigorously enforcing significant reductions in global purchases of Iranian crude oil, and sanctioning any violations to the fullest extent of the law."