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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran Tries to Bribe U.S. with Oil |
| 2005-09-07 |
| Iran will send the United States 20 million barrels of crude oil to help it overcome the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, if Washington waives trade sanctions, a senior Iranian oil official said. In a gesture that mirrors American aid offers after a devastating 2003 earthquake in Iran, Tehran's envoy to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced his government would ship up to 20 million barrels of oil to the U.S., state radio reported late Tuesday. "If U.S. sanctions are lifted, Iran is prepared to send that quantity of oil to America," the radio quoted Hossein Kazempour as saying. U.S. officials couldn't immediately be reached for comment, but there were no signs that the U.S. policy toward Iran was about to change. Last week the Iranian Foreign Ministry offered to send relief supplies to the American Red Cross; Iranian newspapers reported that no response had been received. Iran's offers reciprocates the goodwill that the United States displayed after an earthquake flattened the southeastern Iranian city of Bam in 2003, killing more than 26,000 people. The United States flew in emergency supplies, which were gratefully unloaded at an Iranian airport. The Bam gesture did not, however, lead to an improvement in relations. The United States and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held its occupants hostage in 1979. Washington then imposed a range of sanctions on Iran. The United States accuses Iran of sponsoring terrorism and secretly trying to build nuclear bombs - charges that Iran denies. Hurricane Katrina has severely disrupted U.S. oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and reduced the country's refining capacity by more than 10 percent. |
| Posted by:Captain America |
| #17 No, I think this hallow gesture is more for internal consumption. It placates the pro-western Iranians who are nationalistic enough to be pro-nuclear power. This represents many. |
| Posted by: Captain America 2005-09-07 18:14 |
| #16 The days of Chea[p Oil is over, gone, adjust to it, it is a good thing as well. 20 million barrels is a drop in the bucket BTW. This is for International consumption. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2005-09-07 17:22 |
| #15 Absolutely, TGA. The first Friday of Ramadan, as a matter of fact... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2005-09-07 16:39 |
| #14 Why, do it. Send the oil. Trade sanctions waived For a day |
| Posted by: True German Ally 2005-09-07 16:35 |
| #13 Iran will send the United States 20 million barrels of crude oil to help it overcome the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, if Washington waives trade sanctions, a senior Iranian oil official said. A Quid Pro Quo is not a contribution, Mo-Fo. Charity with strings attached is not charity. It may work on the EU-3 but it don't work for me. By the way, how did the rebuilding of Bam work out? And did you revise the building codes and fix up the |
| Posted by: Al-Aska Paul 2005-09-07 16:16 |
| #12 He said prices will drop [by] $20/barrel, not that they will drop to $20/barrel. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2005-09-07 15:20 |
| #11 Our rigs just have minor damage, our refineries are back up and running and oil prices will drop $20 a barrel soon. Dude - you are WAAAAAY off there. We'll never see those prices again so get used to it. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2005-09-07 13:56 |
| #10 Our rigs just have minor damage, our refineries are back up and running and oil prices will drop $20 a barrel soon. If you're a betting person that's not the way to bet right now. Essentially the world has almost no spare crude production capacity right now and oil companies, seemingly having learned their lessons from past price spikes, are in no hurry to bring lots of new capacity online. The latest DOE Short Term Energy Outlook (hot off the presses less than an hour ago) is still calling for 2006 crude prices to average almost $5/bbl more than '05 prices. Barring a worldwide economic meltdown or serious changes in the behaior of energy users oil prices aren't going to dip for any significan length of time in the next year or two. |
| Posted by: AzCat 2005-09-07 12:02 |
| #9 A poor trade is not "goodwill". We need to drop something, but it's not sanctions. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2005-09-07 11:31 |
| #8 Iran's offers reciprocates the goodwill that the United States displayed after an earthquake flattened the southeastern Iranian city of Bam in 2003 Did we place condition on what we sent in aid back then? Then its is not the same. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-09-07 11:04 |
| #7 "Thanks for the oil. We dropped the sanctions on Iraq. What? Iran? Like hell we'll drop the sanctions on Iran." |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-09-07 10:55 |
| #6 Take the oil and keep the sanctions. It's the way of the Souk. |
| Posted by: Claish Glineth6940 2005-09-07 10:34 |
| #5 Without the conditions, $1.2B is a pretty big contribution. With the conditions, $1.2B is a pretty low price for dropping sanctions. Maybe if they made it 200m barrels, or $12B. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-09-07 10:30 |
| #4 Take it, then don't do what we said. A little like the nuclear we do we don't they are playing. |
| Posted by: plainslow 2005-09-07 10:02 |
| #3 Sorry Iran, our rigs just have minor damage, our refineries are back up and running and oil prices will drop $20 a barrel soon. You can take that oil and shove it. Later, we still may kick your ass and take your gas. Kisses! |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-09-07 09:46 |
| #2 They can pound that 20 million barrels up their ass. This isn't an actual offer, just a gesture for the rest of the worlds' consumption. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2005-09-07 09:40 |
| #1 I'd say this should be payback for us helping them out with the 2003 earthquake, but then again I'm looking for gratitude where there isn't any. |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-09-07 09:30 |