Posted on 05/16/2006 3:09:54 AM PDT by familyop
TEHRAN, May 15 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced Friday that in July Iran will abandon dollar payments for its oil and natural gas exports in favor of euros.
The move comes amid a standoff between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment program. The Bush administration insists the program is cover for a nuclear weapons program, a charge that Iran denies.
All current international oil transactions on the New York Mercantile Exchange and London's International Petroleum Exchange are priced in dollars.
Middleeastforex.com reported May 13 that Ahmadinejad announced the change Friday during a visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Many political observers see the decision as an attempt to pressure Washington, which is attempting to line up other U.N. Security Council members to act against Iran for its nuclear policies.
Iran has also proposed establishing a euro-based Iranian oil bourse to compete with NYMEX and the IPE. The proposal was first put forward in the beginning of the Third Development Plan (2000-2005), and began to receive serious attention in 2005.
Some observers speculate that the Iranian switch to euros could negatively affect the dollar, as many central banks from oil importing nations could choose to stock up their currency reserves with euros rather than dollars.
They do this they are signing their own death warrant.
Related thread
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1627648/posts
Thank you for the ping (I'll be here soon).
The dollar's already affected and nobody's going to help Uncle Sam. We shouldn't be surprised.
Iran thinks it'll run the exchange markets? lol.
Iran is cornered.
Still, it just shows that Iran hasn't yet entered the big world of "economics" -- as in, "thinking" this won't be balanced and countered by free market capitalism.
Iran exports oil to Europe, so it makes sense for them to trade in Euros. I don't think it means a thing in toto. Europe was going to buy their oil from Iran whether in dollars or euros. The value of the dollar is not determined by Iranian oil shipments. The dollar trades on our competitiveness relative to other currencies/economies. The European economy is stillborn and the Iranian economy barely registers worldwide.
BINGO.
Exactly.
And besides, Iran is a Terrorist State, last I heard. And ya just know all those same countries found "guilty" in the Oil4Food Scam are just pining to be included in another scam.. eh? :)
The total value of all oil transactions (each day) is less than 1% of the total value of US currency transactions (each day.)
Iran moving to the Euro will have no effect whatsoever. The entire oil market shifting would have very little impact as well.
dollar is under attack tonite here in asia -
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.