Posted on 06/25/2006 1:09:07 PM PDT by familyop
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran on Sunday repeated threats that it was ready to use its massive oil exports as a weapon to defend itself if it felt in danger in an international dispute over its atomic program.
But Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said international sanctions on 2.5 million barrels per day of Iranian crude exports would be impractical and would send oil prices over $100 a barrel, up from around $70 now.
Iran has been hauled before the U.N. Security Council over suspicions it is seeking nuclear missiles, a charge it denies. It could face economic sanctions and the United States has consistently declined to rule out military action.
Vaziri-Hamaneh said earlier this month the world's fourth biggest crude producer would prefer not to play the oil card and would only do so to defend its rights.
He struck a similar tone on Sunday, telling state television: "I think using the oil weapon would be advantageous to Iran in times of threats."
"But using such a weapon in the normal situation in the country and oil markets would mean confronting the world and we do not have such a policy," he added.
Eighty percent of Iran's export earnings come from oil.
However, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman has said the United States would be in "good shape" even if Iran did close the spigots, owing to healthy stockpiles.
In the 90s the Indias were the largest nation of corporate espionage against american business, yet we still imported their workers here as programmers and consultants. We eventually sent most of our technology careers to them.
China is still a communist nation that is in the process of using Walmart dollars to expand their military infrastructure, which they WILL use against Taiwan, and ultimately US.
When their economy can afford to buy their own Walmart crap, and they no longer need US, we can expect that Americans will be expelled from their country, (the business' will remain) and we will be without the manufacturing infrastructure that we once had and imported/lost to China.
The US is a super power because of our development and use of cheap oil. We need oil to remain a super power and we need China and India to not have oil or we are sunk, worse than 9/11
CORRECTION:
In the 90s, India was the largest nation . . . .
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