Iran threatens to use oil as weapon :: National Post

Quote:

"If (they) politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Iran is the No. 2 producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and has partial control over the narrow Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The strait is an essential passage for crude oil from key producers such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq.

Not to state the obvious, but it was one thing to decline to sell. That's your business. But when you block a trading route you're messing in the business of your neighbors.

Iran's oil weapon may appear large, but it is diminutive when you consider they can go perhaps 30 days on their financial reserves, and the US itself has a 120 day reserve of oil. So their option is to magnify the effect of a unilateral embargo by blocking the Strait of Hormuz and bottling up the Gulf's exports.

I'd like to think that if Iran takes this course of action internal forces will be set in motion to bring down the regime. Wishful thinking, I suppose.

TAGS: Iran, nukes, Hormuz