Dave Gonigam

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Iran Provokes U.S. Aggression with Hollow Threat

For Immediate Release:
June 5, 2006
Contact:  Ian Mathias, 410-864-1652, imathias@agorafinancial.com

www.dailyreckoning.com:  Iran Provokes U.S. Aggression with Hollow Threat

Baltimore, MD:  According to the Associated Press, Iran recently announced their willingness to halt crude oil shipments if western nations continued to hinder Iranian nuclear development. While oil prices have fearfully responded by jumping to over $73, an authority on global oil reserves asserts that the Iranian threat is little but an unfounded attempt to rouse a U.S. attack.
 
“If any nation is immediately subject to the effects of an embargo, it would be Iran,” said Byron King, an expert on international oil and frequent contributor to The Daily Reckoning. King stated that despite recent nuclear advancements, Iran is in a state of political and economic deterioration – a state that could only be revived by a U.S. attack. “Without a clearly hostile act by the U.S. toward Iran, they are stuck with managing the declining days of both their oil reserves and their revolutionary fervor.”

Contrary to Iran’s recent threats, King noted that Iran’s oil production has actually peaked and Iranian oil reserves are diminishing steadily. While Iran could halt their own oil exportation and hurt the U.S., they would simultaneously cripple their own economy by shutting down their number one export.

King believes Iran’s only serious threat on the global oil economy is their ability to interfere with tanker traffic in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz. While this threat is significant, he claims “they could only do that with any perceived legitimacy after a direct U.S. attack on their nation.” 
 
With tensions already high in Iran over a rapidly developing nuclear program and reported terrorist associations, King urges the U.S. to continue peaceful diplomacy. If the U.S. can ignore Iranian provocation and encourage international mediation, King believes “it would utterly dissipate what is becoming truly tiresome and irrelevant Iranian rhetoric.”

Byron King is a practicing attorney in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and has followed developments in the oil and gas industry for almost three decades. A former geologist in the exploration and production division of a major international oil company, King’s experience and expertise make him a valuable contributor to The Daily Reckoning.

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