As we noted on Wednesday, President Joe Biden’s foreign policy only made the decision by OPEC+ to cut petroleum production by two million barrels per day has not helped his efforts to bring down inflation. But it’s more than just pissing off Russia and Saudi Arabia:

Biden juggles Iran nuke talks as Iranian repression grows

President Joe Biden has criticized Iran over the government’s brutal crackdown on antigovernment protests, praised the “brave women of Iran” for demanding basic rights and signaled possible sanctions.

by Matthew Lee and Aamer Madhani, Associated Press | Wednesday, October 5, 2022

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has hit back at Iran over the government’s brutal crackdown on antigovernment protests. He’s praised the “brave women of Iran” for demanding basic rights and signaled that he’ll announce more sanctions against those responsible for violence against protesters in the coming days.

The outpouring of anger — largely led by young women and directed at the government’s male leadership — has created a seminal moment for the country, spurring some of the largest and boldest protests against the country’s Islamic leadership seen in years.

And while the Biden administration says it is dedicated to standing by the women of Iran, the president faces a tough question: Can he credibly side with the protest movement while also trying to salvage the languishing 2015 Iran nuclear deal that would pump billions into Tehran’s treasury?

“The risk of a nuclear Iran is terrifying on all levels,” Marjan Keypour Greenblatt, director of a network of activists that promotes human rights in Iran and a nonresident scholar with the Middle East Institute’s Iran Program, wrote in an analysis this week. “However, President Biden simply cannot offer the prospect of sanctions relief and de facto legitimize a regime that is ruthlessly gunning down its own citizens in the street.”

There’s more at the original.

Of course, Iran’s leadership has hated us ever since the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khoumeini took over in 1979, and as long as the mad mullahs are in charge, that will remain the case. We can never expect any help from Iran on oil prices, but let’s face it: the OPEC+ action helps Iran just as much as it helps Vladimir Putin and the Saudis, as Iran will get more money for its oil exports as well.

Mr Greenblatt is wrong, of course: the Iranian regime, which has been in power for 43 years, does not need President Biden to somehow legitimize it. The fact that the United States has actually been negotiating with Iran about the nuclear deal shows that the US regards the Iranian regime as the leadership of that nation, and that everybody is very worried about Iran developing and building atomic bombs shows just how much everybody worries about it.