Obama's Iranian Option

Obama's hand in negotiating Ukraine's future is stronger than it looks, if Obama is willing to throw his liberal base under the bus. A major, modern pipeline or five from the Caspian to the Persian Gulf would open up geopolitical options for all the central asian oil powers and it's within Obama's power to make that happen. Losing control of those oil resources transport routes to market would be a major blow to Russia. The Russian response would likely include outing every drug addict, homosexual, and woman fooling around to hardline Iranian jurists in a bid to disgust the US into torpedoing the deal because of the inevitable mass death penalties that would be assessed in accordance to Iran's theocratic laws. But Obama manifestly has a pass from the left on just about everything so perhaps this time a surge in executions in Iran wouldn't have a policy effect.