The prospect of an Iranian rapprochement has a lot of businesses salivating, and US oil majors stand to have a shot at billions in contracts if diplomacy moves forward.
Surprisingly though, with Congressmen looking to derail those talks, the oil companies, awash with lobbying dollars, are staying on the sidelines just watching things unfold.
Many don’t see the argument as worth having, figuring the Congressional hawks aren’t going to be persuaded by a good argument anyhow, and is just going to make those hawks mad.
Hostility toward Iran has a momentum of its own, and the prospect of being not hostile is so disorienting to many lawmakers they’re railing against it on general principle. Even for “Big Oil,” notoriously eager to impose its will on Congress in the past, most see that as a reason to get out of the way.