Act on everything but the oil. Gee, wonder why?
MOSCOW (Reuters) - The United States will press other major world powers on Tuesday to consider what it called targeted sanctions against Iran as an April 30 U.N. deadline loomed for Tehran over its nuclear program.
World crude oil prices topped $70 a barrel on Monday, the highest level for nearly eight months, as Iran's pursuit of its nuclear program heightened market fears Washington might take military action against the oil-producing Islamic Republic.
But U.S. talk of laying the groundwork for possible force is widely expected to be dismissed when the U.N. Security Council's five veto-wielding permanent members -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia -- meet together with Germany.
Russia and China strongly oppose sanctions or the use of force. Apart from the United States, the others -- including close U.S. ally Britain -- oppose military action.
The United States, which already has a broad range of sanctions on Iran, said it wanted the Security Council to be ready to take strong diplomatic action, including so-called targeted measures such as a freeze on assets and visa curbs.
"We're kind of sanctioned out at this point. We're down to pistachios and rugs," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington.
The United States says it is not looking at restrictions on Iran's oil and gas sectors on grounds that it is does not want to create hardship for the Iranian people. Iran is the world's fourth-biggest oil exporter.
But freezing assets and curbing visas doesn't ceate hardship for the Iranian people?
Translation: We don't want to create hardship for the Chinese, who make all of our cheap plastic shit using their big oil contracts with the Iranians. Therefore, we dodge any real responsibility and continue to beat the war drum, which will drive up the price of crude, therefore creating more record profits for the oil industry. See how that works?
Can't wait for those second-quarter profit statements to come out.
EDIT 7:00 AM: This just in- oil hit $72 a barrel today, a record high and is now "nearing the inflation-adjusted peaks of over $80 hit in 1980, the year after the Iranian revolution". Pretty soon $3 a gallon will look cheap.