Sen. James Lankford Discusses Iran Nuclear Deal's Impact On Oklahoma

News 9's Justin Dougherty sat down with Senator James Lankford and has the latest on how Oklahoma could be directly impacted. 

Tuesday, September 15th 2015, 9:27 am

By: News 9


A major vote is expected Tuesday night on the Iran nuclear deal. The senate will vote to debate the deal or not. If they do, the deal could be on the President's desk as early as Wednesday.

News 9's Justin Dougherty sat down with Senator James Lankford and has the latest on how Oklahoma could be directly impacted. 

This could also impact Oklahoma economically?

"There are only two places in the world that can't sell oil on the global market. That's Iran and America. For the past year the president has worked with Iran and we'd also like to see the president engage in American oil being able to be sold on the world market rather than Iranian oil. When Iran dumps about another billion gallons of oil a day on the world market, it will affect the price and it will affect our jobs."

Is this deal not a way to show the world diplomacy works?

"So the sanctions have brought Iran to the table and that's appropriate. Iran is working activity to build a nuclear weapon, there's no question about that. So the sanctions are in place to stop them. Again we don't want Iran, the single largest state sponsor, to also have a nuclear weapon. So we put those sanctions in place and those sanctions are very simple. They tell the Iranian government and every other business in the world you cannot do business with Iran and the United States."

These sanctions will be lifted over time. Not right away.

"Right. The UN is evaluating this entire time whether Iran messes up or not. The UN is doing the inspections. The UN sets all these different dates. Though there are hard dates, all those dates are also doubled with an 'Or.' So technically while the relief is eight years away, the sanctions are lifted immediately with the sell and $68 billion or so."

President Obama has said several times, "This detailed arrangement permanently prohibits Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. It contains the most comprehensive inspection and verification regime ever negotiated to monitor a nuclear program."

Oklahoma has already be hit by the drop in oil prices, and oil and gas experts do admit the situation could become worse if the Iran deal goes through.

Drivers nationwide may like it because gas prices will drop. But job cuts here at home could increase. OK Energy Today's Jerry Bohnen has discovered the state budget would possibly take the largest hit.

"I mean if we think the budget is already bad and they're predicting the coming budget will be hurt and harmed by falling oil prices, it could be get worse. Oil prices could drop as much as $10 a barrel, according to some experts on this whole situation," said Jerry Bohnen with OK Energy Today.

Bohnen also touched on small independent energy operators. He said they could be ripe for takeover by larger companies.

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