Report:Iran will use oil as weapon if attacked

[cal04]

Source: MSNBC

Military chief warns of controls on route where two-fifths of oil is shipped
The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said the country would impose controls on shipping in the vital Gulf oil route if Iran was attacked, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Fear of an escalation in the standoff between the West and Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, have been one factor propping up sky-high oil prices. Crude hit a record level on international markets near $143 a barrel on Friday.

Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its disputed nuclear ambitions has risen since a report this month said Israel had practiced such a strike, prompting increasingly tough talk of retaliation, if pushed, from Tehran.

"Naturally every country under attack by an enemy uses all its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy," Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari told Jam-e Jam newspaper in some of the toughest language Iran has used so far.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25424938/

[leftchick]

1. well duh!

I am sure the dick is hoping for this.

[tekisui]

2. $400 a barrel oil was predicted if Iran is attacked.

That should guarantee it. Big money for the oil boys.

[leftchick]

3. exactly

are most americans that stupid and uninformed that they can not see the robber barons anymore?

[Bandit]

10. It doesn't matter because they can all keep handguns in their homes now..

They are now Safe So much safer than say if they lived in Canada or Japan or England or Italy or France where gun deaths are so very much more abundant....D'Oh

[jwirr]

12. And speaking of EU countries - they are going to be furious with us

since they get much of their oil from Iran. Way to go *ss - make our once friends even angrier.

[pt22]

19. That's not hijacking a thread, it's taking a great big shit on it.

:grr:

[Analitico]

4. Will they load rifles and missiles with oil?

j/k. Just playing with the headline's curious wording.

[peacetalksforall]

6. and they dole out contracts to design and make more war, chemica and spying-on-us toys -

their buddies and themselves. And some don't get make, but they make a bundle in designing.

[martymar64]

7. More like close the straits of hormuz and

bomb the shit out of the oil facilities on the other side of the gulf in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE. Who knows, they may even bomb the jet set hideaway known as Dubai. With no oil coming out of the gulf, they can bring the world to its knees economically.

"He who can destroy a thing, controls that thing"
Paul Muad'ib Atredes

[ohio2007]

9. China will not allow that circus side show eom

[martymar64]

15. They could just use the opportunity to take Taiwan

[FarCenter]

5. The big money would be made by the speculators in oil futures

From Gene Epstein's column in Barrons

"Swaps dealers' positions in crude oil are not available. But based on the standard commodity indexes, it is possible to make rough estimates. Briese estimates that their long bets on the New York Mercantile crude oil contract could account for more than a third of all long contracts, or the equivalent of nearly 90 days of U.S. consumption."

The swaps dealers are the members of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association. They are placing the bets for hedge funds and market indexers. The actual owners of the capital at risk and who would benefit from the price rise are generally not known. The are not necessarily in the US.

The 90 days of US consumption controlled by speculators is roughly equivalent to what is in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, IIRC.

[ohio2007]

8. Putting a gun to their heads. I'm sure Iranians can handle the inflation fallout

"The moral equivalent of war "

[jwirr]

11. Of course they will, we have used food as a weapon.

[tuckessee]

13. Doesn't the US use goods as weapons by imposing sanctions? n/t

[ohio2007]

17. Like bombing South Korea with beef ?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3373375

World doesn't want our GM food either.

[bemildred]

14. Oil tankers make really good targets for rockets, I would think. nt

[ohio2007]

16. IPI pipeline fee dispute resolved ( Iranian pipeline to India via Pakistan )

India and Pakistan have resolved commercial differences holding up a proposed multi-billion-dollar gas pipeline from Iran, oil ministers of both South Asian nations said on Friday.The project, which aims to transport gas from Iran to Pakistan and India, was first mooted in 1994 but has been stalled by a series of disputes over prices and transit fees.

“I am happy to report that as far as Pakistan and India are concerned, we have resolved all bilateral issues. There is no issue whatsoever that needs to be addressed now,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.Mr Qureshi made the announcement after talks with Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora.

“We have reached an agreement on the principles of charging transit fee. India remains fully committed to the project,” the Indian minister was also quoted as saying by PTI.

Mr Qureshi also said Pakistan will “provide fool-proof security” for the planned 2,600-kilometre pipeline, expected to pass through the volatile Balochistan region.—AFP

http://www.dawn.com/2008/06/28/top2.htm


Nothing can possibly go wrong now

[fla nocount]

18. The whole point of an attack on Iran is to take control of the oil.

This makes the threat mute. Iran poses no nuclear threat to the middle east, like pre-war Iraq they simply won't submit and roll over.

All the lands of Canaan are belong to us.

[Joanne98]

20. Iran says Gulf oil route at risk if attacked

Source: Reuters

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The Revolutionary Guards said Iran would impose controls on shipping in the vital Gulf oil route if Iran was attacked and warned regional states of reprisals if they took part, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Fear of an escalation in the standoff between the West and Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, have been one factor propping up sky-high oil prices. Crude hit a record level on international markets near $143 a barrel on Friday.

Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its disputed nuclear ambitions has risen since a report this month said Israel had practiced such a strike, prompting increasingly tough talk of retaliation, if pushed, from Tehran.

"Naturally every country under attack by an enemy uses all its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy," Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari told Jam-e Jam newspaper in some of the toughest language Iran has used so far.

Analysts say Iran may not match the firepower of U.S. forces but could still cause havoc in the region using unconventional tactics, such as deploying small craft to attack ships, or using allies in the area to strike at U.S. or Israeli interests.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSBLA82623620080628

[roamer65]

21. ...or they'll do to the Straits of Hormuz...

what Nasser did to the Suez Canal in 1956. Google it.

[Baby Snooks]

26. Just a tanker or two...

Just a tanker or two or three sunk in the Strait of Hormuz would effectively block all transport of oil from the Persian Gulf.

And of course if they were blown up as well the world probably would see the worst ecological disaster ever recorded.

The oil companies and their traders would love to see $300 a barrel oil which would probably result. The winds of war come from all directions.

Our Congress keeps talking about the traders. Who do they think the traders work for? Wall Street?

[Purveyor]

28. Just splitting one super-tanker open would do the trick. Not an insurance company in the world

would provide coverage to ships wishing to navigate those waters.

[Zachstar]

29. Can you provide more evidence of this? News articles and such?

I keep hearing about this sink thing that would basically shut down the economy and I do not want it to happen.

But Iran has Kilo class submarines and killing one of those battery operated sharks is not as easy as one will have you believe. The crews have trained and trained and trained and they know they if they fight they will die so little will stop them from getting into range I fear.

Lets pray Iran is not attacked. It just Isnt worth it!

[Baby Snooks]

34. Just connect the dots.. .

The concensus has always been that sinking oil tankers would only impede the shipping lanes and that because of the width of the strait even at its narrowest point, 21 miles, that tankers would continue to be able to use the strait and the shipping lanes would merely be reconfigured and that the main problem would be risk to other tankers and the associated problem of insurance which would become extremely expensive and probably result in even higher prices per barrel because of the increased risk.

?

The problem is the strait itself since it wraps around a peninsula and ships must navigate in a "U" configuration if you are looking at the strait from Iran which is important because Iran has the most strategic position along the strait and along both the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman with territorial waters in all three areas. One tanker might not block the strait. But several tankers would. It would depend on where they were sunk. One sunk tanker would necessitate a change in one of the two channels. So that new channel would be blocked by a second sunk tanker. If Iran was intent on doing so, it could conceivably block the entire strait by blocking each successive new channel. After sinking two or three ships, most insurers would refuse to insure. And that of course would effectively block further shipping in the Persian Gulf.

There is a rationale behind the madness of Iraq. Utilizing the original pipeline from Iraq to Haifa would allow transport of oil from Iraq without using the Persian Gulf. The madness is the manner in which the Bush Administration chose to pursue a reopening of the original pipeline. There are two pipelines from Iraq. One runs through Syria and one runs through Jordan. The section that runs through Syria apparently is the one they want to utilize. And of course they would like to connect the Iranian pipeline system into the same pipeline. Which explains all the rhetoric the past year about the threat that Syria and Iran pose to peace in the region. Reality is one has oil. The other has the pipeline to allow transport of the oil to Haifa.

Saddam Hussein most likely would have allowed it and might have been able to influence Syria as well despite the fact that Arab oil would be flowing through an Israeli port although Jordan probably would have agreed to it if Syria did not. The Arab League of course would have opposed it. But acquiesced to Saddam Hussein. And possibly to Israel whose economy of course would benefit from the expanded shipping and refining facilities at Haifa and would have probably allowed Palestine statehood as a result. But then Saddam Hussein would have wanted his cut. And the Bushes in essence wanted his cut. So they cut him out. Permanently. And of course if Israel became an ally rather than an enemy in the Middle East, there would be no one to play against the other and the United States from day one has played Israel off the Arab countries and done quite well by doing so. Divide and conquer has always worked well in the Middle East. Particularly for the Bushes.

"That man tried to kill my Daddy" was really saying "That man tried to steal my Daddy's oil."

Obviously someone has worried about the possibility of any of the Persian Gulf countries sinking ships in the strait. And any of them potentially could. You don't need facts to know they could. You just need to be observant about what has unfolded in Iraq. Connect the dots. They all lead to Haifa. And they lead to Haifa because we have always needed a way to bypass the Persian Gulf. Out of fear of what would happen if any of the Persian Gulf countries decided to block the Strait of Hormuz.

[amandabeech]

41. The pipeline through Jordan and Israel isn't in working order, and it's

only 8-9 inches wide. It would have to be relaid. Also hooks up with a pipeline out to Kirkuk, which is one reason while Israel has a presence there.

It does not, however, hook up easily with the pipelines coming from the southern fields.

I read over at theoildrum several months ago that the Syrian pipeline is also in bad shape, even though it isn't nearly as old as the Israel one.

The Syrian pipeline has the advantage of avoiding the Suez canal. Suez can be cut easily, and tankers traveling through it have a size limitation.

Theoretically, one could construct a dock at the Syrian coast that would allow extremely large tankers to fill 'er up.

The Turkish port of Ceyhan has many of the advantages of a Syrian coast loading point.

[amandabeech]

39. If oil all of a sudden goes to $300, many, many customers' economies will go to hell.

That includes ours and we use 25% of the world's oil output. A collapse in the world's major economies would also reduce the value of many of the investments that the sellers hold.

I think that many of the oil producers, like the Saudis, are looking for a Goldilocks price: not too cheap, not too expensive, but just right to keep both the customers' economies perking right along and the oil revenues rolling in at a nice clip.

$300 a barrel is not the Goldilocks price, at least right now.

My personal opinion is that the scummy vulture speculators are in the market, but that the real problem is one of a lack of supply of light sweet crude that the world's refineries can make into useful grades of distilled products, like gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

[jimshoes]

22. Who could forsee such things?

I can just see Kindasleazy now. In reality they know perfectly well what might happen after an attack on Iran. They're banking on it.

[AndyTiedye]

24. I Think they are Banking On It Quite Literally

They are bidding up the price of oil in anticipation of the war they are about to start. :grr:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

23. Chimp'll go out with a whimper and not a bang.

200<

[AndyTiedye]

25. That Wouldn't be His Style At All

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

37. Maybe he'll get lost on the way out?

[bluesmail]

27. I don't think anyone is fooled by BigOil. n/t

[ohio2007]

30. Iran's biggest enemy is internal

and it is drug related.


Rebels in Iran execute two captive policemen

DUBAI (AFP) — An Iranian Sunni rebel group has said it has executed two more of 16 Iranian border police it says it seized two weeks ago, Al-Arabiya television reported on Friday.

The Dubai-based news channel quoted a spokesman for the Jundullah (Soldiers of God) rebels as saying that the Tehran government had "two more weeks" to answer their demands or risk seeing the remaining captives killed also.


snip

The border guards were captured on June 12 at a checkpoint in the town of Saravan, in restive Baluch-populated southeastern Iran, and taken across the border into Pakistan, according to the Iranian authorities.

Jundallah has said it carried out a string of attacks and kidnappings in Sistan-Baluchestan, which is home to a substantial Sunni ethnic Baluch community and lies on a major narcotics route from Afghanistan and Pakistan.


http://www.iranpressnews.com/english/source/042370.html

The govt. in Tehran doesn't control its own country when cities near the Pakistan border are under siege.

Thats very much the same fate Islamabad finds itself in.
Maybe by the same people ?

All Tehran has to do is link these Sunni drug smuggling tribes with the CIA and then they will have a case to piss off the worlds oil consumers and mine the straits but .... They themselves ship oil through the straits. I hope they thought this saber rattling thing out. They have become quite the oil speculators lately

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iPjMLvhOOihx2hP1NlpN-ct2e7cw

[Arctic Dave]

31. Hell, that type of activity happens on our border.

Pretty much on all countries borders.

[thewiseguy]

33. The gov in Tehran does not control its own country?

This is not Afghanistan we are talking about. The Iranian gov is very much in charge of the country while oppressing its citizens.

[ohio2007]

35. No, it's not at all the rabid and united "Death to America" minions as they make it look to be

there are parts of Iran where Ahmadinejad's motorcade was attacked. It was several years ago but it set the tone that certain parts of Iran are a no go zone for the ruling class for years.

snip
....There is also much more violent unrest in store. On Dec. 15, 2005 gunmen ambushed Ahmadinejad's motorcade, was attacked on the Zabol- Saravan highway in Baluchistan where Sunni Baluchis have been fighting for autonomy from Iran's Shiite theocratic government. Similar incidents happened in other Arab Shiite provinces, such as oil rich Kuzestan, one of the most strategic regions of Iran, bordering with Arab Shiite southern Iraq.

http://www.defense-update.com/weblog.html

He was in his presidential victory tour and the arabs voiced thier opinion not with the ballot that day.And today they are pumping up the boogy man to explain why that is.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3373587

[thewiseguy]

38. JFK's motorcade was also unfortunately attacked in Texas

Did that mean Texas was a no go zone for the gov officials?

Please dont make stuff up. Thank you.

[ohio2007]

40. McKinley was whacked by an anarchist when he shuffled through Buffalo

of course,
Lincoln was shot in the Ford theater
"Death to tyrants" was the rant of the day.




Unfortunate you can't handle a little Google search truth.

Guess thats why 'truthers' flourish so much today.


Drugs are funding wars and insurrection around the world.
Truth

[amandabeech]

42. I remember talking about then curent Baluchi revolts back in the late '70s.

Countries cobbled together from different ethnic groups often have on-going problems. In some cases, things tend to stay peaceful (Quebec) and sometimes they get nasty (Kurds).

Outside entities can agitate, and the U.S. has been guilty of that in different spots, but frequently things get going by spontaneous combustion.

[ohio2007]

43. post Yugoslavia spin offs fit that profile after the break up of the late 1980's

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia splintered off into almost city state status











http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakup_of_Yugoslavia

[liberal N proud]

32. That will provide further reason for the bu$h regime to attack

It would only drive oil prices through the roof and completely halt the US economy. Then he would have a successful mission.

[Spouting Horn]

36. What you said. n/t