The United States has a strategic interest in ending the ban on exporting crude oil, former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley wrote in an op-ed (Google link) in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday.
Panetta and Hadley explained that the law banning the export of American crude oil was enacted during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970’s, but energy markets have changed dramatically in the past 40 years. By ending the ban, the United States could keep economic pressure on Iran.
The United States faces a startling array of global security threats, demanding national resolve and the resolve of our closest allies in Europe and Asia. Iran’s moves to become a regional hegemon, Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, and conflicts driven by Islamic terrorism throughout the Middle East and North Africa are a few of the challenges calling for steadfast commitment to American democratic principles and military readiness. The pathway to achieving U.S. goals also can be economic—as simple as ensuring that allies and friends have access to secure supplies of energy….
The U.S. has broken free of its dependence on energy from unstable sources. Only 27% of the petroleum consumed here last year was imported, the lowest level in 30 years. Nearly half of those imports came from Canada and Mexico. But our friends and allies, particularly in Europe, do not enjoy the same degree of independence. The moment has come for the U.S. to deploy its oil and gas in support of its security interests around the world.
Consider Iran. Multilateral sanctions, including a cap on its oil exports, brought Tehran to the negotiating table. Those sanctions would have proved hollow without the surge in domestic U.S. crude oil production that displaced imports. Much of that foreign oil in turn found a home in European countries, which then reduced their imports of Iranian oil to zero.
Panetta and Hadley argued that with a deal with Iran possibly in the offing, which would allow the Islamic Republic to export more oil, increasing American oil exports to allies would discourage them from buying greater amounts of oil from Iran, thus ensuring continued economic pressure. On the other hand, if no deal is reached and sanctions are re-imposed, American allies need to know that they will have a source of oil so they will have no incentive to buy from Iran.
In addition to discouraging American allies from buying Iranian oil, Panetta and Hadley argued that increased American oil exports will protect European allies from Russian coercion.
Panetta and Hadley concluded:
Too often foreign-policy debates in America focus on issues such as how much military power should be deployed to the Middle East, whether the U.S. should provide arms to the Ukrainians, or what tougher economic sanctions should be imposed on Iran. Ignored is a powerful, nonlethal tool: America’s abundance of oil and natural gas. The U.S. remains the great arsenal of democracy. It should also be the great arsenal of energy.
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