U.S. Strategy With Iran and OPEC to Push Oil Above $100

Crude oil market analysts are currently keeping an eye on the global reactions regarding the U.S. sanctions put on Iran. The Bush Administration has kept its promise that the Tehran regime will be confronted by increased financial and economic sanctions if it does not comply with international requests to end its nuclear program.

First reactions coming from Tehran have been defiant, showing an unwillingness to comply with the Western request – leaving no other room for a full confrontation. Three Iranian banks, Bank Melli, Bank Melat and Bank Saderat, the main Iranian institutions working internationally, and Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, which is the military-industrial complex of the regime, have been hit by the sanctions.


U.S. sanctions have been put in place after Russia and China refused to support a much-wanted UN Security Council sanctions regime. Not only will Iran be feeling the effects of the new sanctions, which will block international assets and financial transactions for all parties, but other countries will as well. As part of the new sanctions regime, companies such as Shell [NYSE:RDS-A], Total [NYSE:TOT], ABN Amro [NYSE:ABN] or HSBC [NYSE:HBC] could be sued by U.S. courts if they continue their operations in Iran. Some analysts expect some international condemnation of the unilateral approach taken by Washington, but already unofficial statements coming from several European countries, such as the UK and the Netherlands, have shown that a broad support is building up for the new regime.

Iran