The price of oil passed $100.01 per barrel a few days ago.
Of course, this will not deter those who, acting on high principle, are determined to make Iran forego its pursuit of advanced nuclear technology.
But, with thanks to the information in links about Iran’s opening of an oil bourse in which trading will be in Iranian rials and eventually in Euros but NOT in dollars (Iran has already made the transformation in its oil sales over a year ago), sent by my friend and colleague in Geneva, Robert James Parsons, I recalled that, as AP reported: “Iran produces more than 20 million tons of petrochemical products per year. Iran has already registered for another oil bourse, in which it has said it hopes to trade oil in Euros instead of dollars, to reduce any American influence over the Islamic Republic’s economy. A bourse official, Mahdi Karbasian, told the IRNA official news agency that such an oil market would begin operating within the next year. While most oil markets are traded in U.S. dollars, Iran first floated the idea of trading oil in euros in the early 2000s during the tenure of reformist president Mohammad Khatami. It gained new life after the nationalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. As the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, Iran has a measure of influence over international oil markets. The country ranks second for output among OPEC countries, and controls about 5 per cent of the global oil supply … The UN Security Council is considering imposing a third set of sanctions on Iran for defying a request to halt uranium enrichment. But Tehran has expressed doubt that the world body would impose sanctions on the country’s oil sector, because such a move would likely drive global oil prices higher“. This AP report is posted here.
Another report kindly forwarded by RJP said that: “The Iranian Oil Bourse, a non-U.S. dollar forum established for the trade of oil, gas and petrochemicals, is set to open for business on Kish Island on Feb. 17, according to EIN News and Iranian television. The Bourse had been set to open during the [previous] week commemorating the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, said Iran’s Foreign Minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari, but the Internet communication breakdown delayed the launch”. here.