Iran is ready to sell its oil to the world again, but it wants to be paid in euros, not dollars. Over the weekend, a top official at Iran's state-owned oil company said the country's top priority is to receive cash and oil payments in euro, adding that anything other than the dollar would be financially and politically better. This is not the first time Iran has tried to move away from the U.S. dollar. But the global oil market trades in U.S. dollars, not euros, which makes Iran's demand complicated. http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/09/investing/iran-euro-us-dollar/index.html
That's probably what got Saddam taken out - he tried to move off the dollar for Iraqi oil exports. But there isn't much the US can do about it any more - we've trashed our options. The US really, really, screwed up with the Iraq invasion and occupation. It was the the kind of blunder that takes down empires.
Oh, great, more conspiracy crap. And really, who cares? It doesn't matter. It has no adverse economic impact to anyone. So why should anyone care? That is true. That's the kind of hyperbole that unfortunately has become far too common on the right and the left in American politics.
Living and learning about international finance and the US military - people who care. Yes, they do. So it's not accurate? There's a term: "the graveyard of empires". There's a famous and multiply attributed (and variously phrased) rule for US military forces: "Never fight a land war in Asia". Are you sure the US can in fact ride out the consequences of the Iraq and Afghan wars without suffering crippling harm? It looks like an uncertain prospect, so far - and we're not even definitely clear, yet, of the actual fighting.
And that in times, when China also gnaws on the dollars base, and tries to establish its own currency as another alternative to the dollar. From what I hear Iran has plans to buy technology (machines) from Europe, so it makes sense to stack up on Euros, to make this sort of trades easier and also more predictable. But I wouldn't be surprised if they sell their oil in renminbi as well, because I think this is a key point to them: Just in case that the euro breaks, renminbi might be a second foot to stand on. Question is, if China is interested in Iran oil?
