“The idea that they would attempt to go to a Mexican drug cartel to solicit murder-for-hire to kill the Saudi ambassador, nobody could make that up, right?”–Hillary Clinton

I’ve been looking around the toobz to determine why the Oily Bomber is trying to ‘wag the dog’ on Iran…! The usual suspects like Israel and the House of Saud came to mind, but, it didn’t seem quite right…

Then I stumbled upon this…

1st Oil Shipment Sold on Iran Oil Bourse

The first shipment of Iranian crude oil has been sold on Iran’s international oil bourse on the Persian Gulf island of Kish, an Iranian official says…

…Mohammad Reza Khajenasiri, the chief supervisor of bourses and markets in Iran’s Bourse Organization, said that a shipment of 500,000 barrels of heavy crude oil were offered at the Kish Commodity Exchange on Thursday (Aug. 18) and were traded at USD 105.49 per barrel, Mehr News Agency reported.

The crude consignment was traded ‘without any discount or additional premium,’ he stressed. [...]

Iran is the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC)’s second-largest oil producer.

The Iranian oil bourse is intended as an oil exchange for petroleum, petrochemicals and gas in various currencies other than the U.S. dollar, primarily the euro and Iranian rial and a basket of other major (non-U.S.) currencies.

Western analysts said that at a time when the U.S. dollar is as vulnerable as it has ever been, Iran is piling on the pressure with their oil exchange. The thing that will kill the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency faster than the U.S. debt default is if oil producers and consumers trade oil in other currencies.

They said, if the main oil consuming and producing nations in the world unite to trade oil over an open exchange, similar to Iran’s oil bourse, and price the oil in currencies other than or as well as the U.S. dollar, then the world is likely to be economically more stable.

Well, Lah di dah…!

While the Iranian oil bourse has been in operation for several years now, they had never been able to sell any of Iran’s Crude Oil in bulk, it’s always been the distillates and other petroleum products that they’ve exchanged, until now…!

Now, here’s some great background analysis…

Iran’s Oil Bourse: A Threat to the U.S. Economy?

While Iran’s nuclear program has become a major focus of the international media, there are many who strongly believe that the program is only a cover for the U.S. government’s true motive in a possible attack against Iran.

What some analysts posit is the real concern for the United States is Iran’s plan to open its own oil exchange — the Iranian Oil Bourse (IOB) — with the alleged goal of becoming the dominant center of the Middle East’s oil trade.

What makes the IOB the subject of such interest by the American government? According to rumors, which first vaulted the issue into the spotlight, the financial exchange in the aforementioned bourse will trade for oil in euros instead of the U.S. dollar. The dollar has long been the dominant currency for international oil trade. [...]

Of course, the effectiveness of the IOB will depend on whether the big international oil trading companies decide to accept deals in euros or not. However, the potential financial impact on the U.S. economy remains more than just idle speculation.

“The weapon of oil in the hands of Iran’s regime is more dangerous than any other weapon,” said a recently published article in Italy’s Panorama newsmagazine. [...]

There is speculation that the IOB represents Iran’s plan to escape any possible future economic sanctions spearheaded by the U.S. However, some postulate that the plan could also endanger the continued existence of Iran’s regime. William Clark, an American security expert, predicted that if Iran threatened the hegemony of the U.S. dollar in the international oil market, the White House would immediately order a military attack against it…

Woof, woof…!

*gah*