Iran

No, I don’t mean its arrest of fifteen British low-rank military people who were taking a boat ride in long-disputed waters dividing Iraq and Iran. That was just a bit of old- fashioned tail-twisting of the British lion, which has been close to toothless ever since 1945. I mean this:

Iran is planning to stop using the U.S. dollar to price oil, with less than half of its oil income now paid in the U.S. currency, Iran’s central bank governor said.


This March 28th Associated Press story belonged in every American newspaper, if not on the front page, then at least the front page of the business section. But you probably missed it. The only American mainstream media outlet that bothered to run this story was The International Herald Tribune, which is owned by The New York Times.

“More than 50 percent of Iran’s oil income is paid in other currencies. We are reducing the dollar share and asking clients to pay in other currencies,” Sheibany said.

Sheibany said that almost all of Iran’s European clients and some of its Asian customers have accepted making payments in non-dollar currencies.

The fact that Iran is now pricing its oil in currencies other than the dollar is reminiscent of Saddam Hussein’s similar decision in September, 2000. This was one month after Hugo Chavez met with Hussein in Iraq. He was the first head of state to visit Hussein since the 1991 Gulf War. Oil was then around $30.

Goldseek