OPEC threatens to use the oil weapon
OPEC is threatening that the price of oil could go 'unlimited' in the event of an American or Israeli attack on Iran (Hat Tip: Memeorandum). "We really cannot replace Iran's production - it's not feasible to replace it," Abdalla Salem El-Badri, the OPEC secretary general, said during an interview.But Badri's not really giving an economic analysis: He's warning the West against attacking Iran.
Iran, the second-largest producing country in OPEC, after Saudi Arabia, produces about 4 million barrels of oil a day out of the daily worldwide production of close to 87 million barrels.
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"The prices would go unlimited," Badri said during the interview, referring to the effect of a military conflict. "I can't give you a number."
"Perhaps OPEC wants to say to the Americans in particular that there would be an economic price to be paid for an attack on Iran," said Daniel Gros, director of the Center for European Policy Studies in Brussels. "Gulf leaders also know that if a war broke out, the situation of some Gulf states also would become more uncomfortable and could have political difficulties for them domestically," he said, noting that some have their own Shia minorities.If they think Israel is going to roll over and wait to die because an attack on Iran would spark a rise in oil prices, I suggest that they think again. Iran is one of the few things on which there is a an almost wall-to-wall consensus in this country: We cannot live with a nuclear Iran.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:57 AM
3 Comments:
It wouldn't matter if Iran was a free country governed by a democratic regime that had friendly ties with the U.S and Israel. No one would complain if New Zealand or Iceland had nuclear weapons. The very nature of their societies ensure the question of whether such weapons would be used would never arise. Nor would they pursue making nuclear weapons in the first place even if they were interested in nuclear power. But it does matter because Iran is anti-American and anti-Israel theocracy with a long record of support for terrorists. And there is its leaders' genocidal vow to wipe out the Jewish State. In the light of such circumstances, Iran can neither be trusted not to deploy nuclear weapons against its adversaries or confine itself to the peaceful ends of nuclear power. For those reasons, Iran will have to be disarmed regardless of its effects upon the world economy. Israel is not going to sit around and wait to for those who vowed her extinction to carry out their threat, since history has given us advance warning of what can happen when a regime animated by Jew hatred tries to destroy the Jewish people. And the fallout of its actions won't by any means just be limited to Jews. That is why Israel will act, OPEC or no OPEC threat to use the oil weapon.
What would the price of oil be if Iran nuked Israel?
Wasn't the very formation of OPEC the first volley in the use of oil as a weapon? Over thirty years ago? Because, you know, there was no way to see this coming. Just came out of the blue.
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