An informal foreign policy adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) on Wednesday linked high oil prices to threats the Bush administration has made against Iran.

Rand Beers, an adviser to 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), said a one-day $11-per-barrel spike in the price of oil was a response to “potential military action threatened against Iran.”

“Americans need to understand that what is happening in the Persian Gulf is significantly contributing to the rising price of oil,” said Beers, who serves as president of the National Security Network, which has criticized U.S. involvement in Iraq.

Beers is not formally tied to the Obama campaign. A spokesman for the National Security Network said he “offered advice to the Clinton and Obama campaigns from time to time when asked but is not a surrogate for the Obama campaign and was not speaking on behalf of the campaign.”

Beers also blamed the Iraq war for increased oil prices, noting that there has been a “sevenfold increase in the price of oil since the Iraq war began.”

The comments come as congressional Democrats and Republicans continue to feud over the causes of high gas prices. Democrats blame speculation by energy commodities traders and price-gouging by profitable oil companies, as well as the Bush administration’s Middle East policy.

Republicans blame the Democratic Congress for resisting efforts to expand offshore drilling and permit oil exploration in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge, which they say diminishes supply at a time of great demand.

House Minority Leader John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) office released a statement on Wednesday that said oil prices have increased 75 percent since the Democrats took control of Congress last year. “Americans are demanding that their leaders in Washington begin unlocking our nation’s vast energy resources to help ease the pain at the pump. Unfortunately, the Democrats in charge of Congress have turned a deaf ear to them,” the statement said.

Beers served on the National Security Council under four presidents before resigning in March 2003 in protest against the Iraq war.