Iran began preparations on February 16th to escalate the economic war with the United States by initiating a plan for oil sales to be done in currencies other than the dollar. These actions are due in part to the economic sanctions that the US and Europe have imposed on the Middle Eastern nation over their nuclear program.
Ironically, it was the same plan initiated by Iraq and Saddam Hussien last decade that led to a US coalition removing the sovereign leader, and fighting an undeclared war on the nation state.
“The dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme is nothing more than a convenient excuse for the US to use threats to protect the 'reserve currency’ status of the dollar,” the newspaper, which calls itself the voice of the Islamic Revolution, said.
“Recall that Saddam [Hussein] announced Iraq would no longer accept dollars for oil purchases in November 2000 and the US-Anglo invasion occurred in March 2003,” the Times continued. “Similarly, Iran opened its oil bourse in 2008, so it is a credit to Iranian negotiating ability that the 'crisis’ has not come to a head long before now.” – The Telegraph
Iran has already begun to create trade agreements with other nations over the sale of oil, even prior to the March deadline and their decision to drop transactions using the petro-dollar. In late January, Israeli newspaper Debka reported that Iran and India had reached an agreement to begin trading oil using gold as the currency for payment, and China has stated it may do the same.
Besides selling oil using currencies other than the dollar, Iran has already intimated its willingness to stop all shipments of oil to Europe if the EU continues their economic sanctions and freezes on Iranian bank accounts. This move in itself is a powerful one, because EU sanctions proved impotent during the Saddam Hussein regime when French interests bypassed the sanctions and created the oil for food scandal which actually helped Saddam purchase weapons of war with the money.
Oil, more than currencies, is the driving force behind the entire global economy. Those nations that hold all the cards, and control production have very heavy leverage over the nations that need to import it to survive. For the United States, that power is seen in oil being traded in US dollars, which reinforces the dollar as the global reserve currency. Thus Iran's actions to sell oil in currencies other than the dollar beginning in March is truly an escalation of the economic war that could very easily move into a hot one, as both sides prepare for an inevitable showdown in the Middle East.
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