EU oil embargo heightens tensions in the Gulf

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Saturday January 07, 2012 15:57 by pat c

The relentless march to War continues. Peter Symonds writes on how the EU sanctions are part of the Imperialist war-drive against Iran. Sanctions are War by other means. Full text at link.

European Union’s (EU) in-principle decision on Wednesday to impose an embargo on oil imports from Iran has further escalated the danger of military conflict in the Persian Gulf. The EU move dovetails with President Obama’s signing on Saturday of US legislation designed to cripple the Iranian banking system and cut the country’s oil exports.

The US and EU threats have already provoked a sharp reaction from Tehran, which has warned that it would respond to an oil embargo by blocking the Strait of Hormuz—a strategic waterway into the Persian Gulf through which about 20 percent of global oil trade passes.
As Economy Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said yesterday, Iran confronts “an economic war.” Oil and gas exports account for some 80 percent of the country’s hard currency earnings and provide about half of government revenue. The Iranian rial has already plunged by 11 percent this week against the US dollar, compounding already high levels of inflation.

In Washington this week, British Defence Secretary Philip Hammond met with his American counterpart Leon Panetta and threatened joint military action with the US in response to any Iranian attempt to close the Strait of Hormuz. A potential trigger for a military clash was established when the Pentagon dismissed an Iranian warning on Tuesday that an American aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis, should not return to the Gulf.