Dangerous mix: Iranian oil and U.S. sanctions

**Gio7707** · 01-20-2012, 08:53 AM

good to know they are well prepared !! JSOTF-GCC’

New U.S. Commando Team Operating Near Iran

JSOTF-GCC | Danger Room | Wired.com

Danger Room has confirmed with the U.S. Special Operations Command that a new elite commando team is operating in the region. The primary, day-to-day mission of the team, known as Joint Special Operations Task Force-Gulf Cooperation Council, is to mentor military units belonging to the U.S.’ oil-rich Arab allies, who collectively are known as the Gulf Cooperation Council. Those Arab states consider Iran to be their primary foreign threat.

The task force provides “highly trained personnel that excel in uncertain environments,” Maj. Rob Bockholt, a spokesman for special-operations forces in the Mideast, tells Danger Room, and “seeks to confront irregular threats.” The U.S. military has not previously acknowledged the existence of the team, known as JSOTF-GCC for short.

The unit began its existence in mid-2009 — around the time that the Iranian leadership rejected President Obama’s offer of a new diplomatic dialogue and underwent a serious internal challenge to its legitimacy from Green Movement protesters. But whatever the task force does about Iran — or might do in the future — is a sensitive subject with the military.

**Gio7707** · 01-23-2012, 12:46 PM

wow ..I get a shiver when I see those ships !! so stennis and lincoln are in now..this is serious ..

**Gio7707** · 02-05-2012, 10:30 PM

Obama: Diplomacy 'preferred solution' with Iran - TODAY People - TODAY.com

best solution to keep everything calm....talking is always good and keeps everybody asking for champagne ...

So for now Israel...take a coolpill and let's wait ...

Israel is right to be concerned about Iran's push to join the league of nations that possess nuclear weapons, but diplomacy - not military intervention - remains the "preferred solution" to averting a potential arms race in the Middle East, President Barack Obama said Sunday.

Iran's leader: War would be detrimental to U.S. - CNN.com

**Gio7707** · 02-15-2012, 02:37 PM

Iranian boats shadow US aircraft carrier in Gulf - Boston.com

US-Iranian tensions have worsened in recent weeks amid Western moves to tighten sanctions on the Iranian regime over its nuclear programme and a series of incidents.

These include the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist, a death sentence handed down against an American-Iranian former Marine accused of spying for the CIA, and the Iran's capture last month of what it said was a CIA drone.

Iran has responded to western threats of an oil embargo by warning it will close the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for 20 per cent of the world's oil at the entrance to the Gulf — in retaliation.

Iran threatens to cut some oil exports to Europe, touts nuclear advances

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...WFR_story.html

**brunette49** · 02-23-2012, 09:58 AM

I heard this weekend gas prices will really jump. What is the significance of this weekend??

**Gio7707** · 02-23-2012, 12:20 PM

Fear of Iran is inflating gas prices - Feb. 23, 2012

yup...really suks ..

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Tensions with Iran are adding at least 30 cents to a gallon of gasoline in the United States, and experts say gas prices have only just begun to rise.

Gasoline prices have surged over 10% in the last two months, largely tracking the runup in oil prices, which have increased by a similar amount and are now at a 9-month high.

Kingston noted that OPEC is actually producing more oil right now than is needed to keep pace with global demand. As such, stockpiles are rising.

The fear is that Iran's 2.2 million barrels a day in exports could be cut off. Iranian oil is already being sanctioned, but so far most is still finding its way to market, just at lower prices.

Worse, there's fear the 17 million barrels a day that flow through the Strait of Hormuz, one fifth of the world's total production, could be disrupted by an Israeli attack.

It's thought the Israelis are considering an attack on Iran as a means to disrupt its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but many suspect is intended to produce a bomb.

But if Israel can't be persuaded to hold off an attack, $4 gas will look cheap.

"If Israel does hit Iran, all bets are off," said Mike Fitzpatrick, editor-in-chief of Kilduff Report's Energy Overview. "$150 [oil] is the first marker we'll hit."

**brunette49** · 02-23-2012, 01:55 PM

Unfortunately, food and everything else transported by the use of gasoline will increase, too.

**NickTheCage** · 02-23-2012, 03:16 PM

Originally Posted by brunette49

Unfortunately, food and everything else transported by the use of gasoline will increase, too.

They've been increasing since 2008

**torts** · 02-23-2012, 08:40 PM

**mixiboi** · 02-23-2012, 09:03 PM

Who will hit 5 bucks first(California Duh)

**Gio7707** · 02-24-2012, 02:30 PM

UN atomic agency report notes rapidly expanding Iranian activity that could be used for arms - The Washington Post

**NickTheCage** · 03-13-2012, 11:13 AM

**Gio7707** · 07-12-2012, 03:48 PM

THE PONCE BUILT 1966 , NOW IN IRAN ..REALLY ??

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/wo...ay-of-war.html

**Gio7707** · 08-25-2012, 01:34 AM

Why I'm convinced Israel will bomb Iran in weeks: Netanyahu is running out of patience and is 'closer than ever' to launching a strike | Mail Online

This week, Alon Ben-David, the well-informed military correspondent for Israel’s Channel 10 News, claimed that the country is ‘closer than ever’ to a strike against Iran. He said the country’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘determined’ to attack Iran before the American Presidential election on November 6, just 11 weeks away.

This suggestion has triggered the chilling prospect of a much larger war across the region that could drag in the U.S.

If the West’s experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001 have taught us one thing, it is how dangerous it is to invade other countries.

But undercover American agents, posing as the Seattle factory owners, were able to expose the truth and identified the involvement of an Iranian called Parviz Khaki. His order list had expanded to precision lathes, nickel alloy, vacuum pumps and a mass spectrometer (which is often used to measure uranium fluorine gas).

It was clear this deal was meant to supply Iran’s nuclear uranium enrichment programme.

It is against this background of subterfuge that the Washington administration is desperate to prove sanctions are working and will halt Iran’s nuclear programme.

The last thing President Barack Obama wants before November’s election is for Israel to launch an attack on Iran. After all, America had already accepted governments in India, Pakistan and North Korea to go ahead with nuclear weapons programmes after initial worries.

The chilling prospect we face is that such an act of aggression risks turning into a Middle East conflict that would unite every regime in that volatile region in yet another — and this time uncontrollable — war.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/1...pment-to-iran/

Khaki was arrested in May in the Philippines. Yi is being sought by US authorities.

Both men face up to 85 years in prison if convicted of all counts. The charges include conspiring to violate the Iran embargo. They are both also charged with conspiring to defraud the US, smuggling, illegally exporting goods from the US to Iran, and money laundering.

According to the indictment, the export conspiracy included discussions about sending 20 tons of high-quality US-made steel to Iran. The steel, known as maraging steel, can be used in gas centrifuges for uranium enrichment.

Moreover, the alleged conspirators discussed obtaining a magnetic mass spectrometer used to perform isotope analysis during the process of enriching uranium. And they discussed shipping other technical equipment associated with gas centrifuges, including gauges, pumps, and pressure transducers.

In May 2009, Khaki allegedly sent the undercover agent an e-mail asking the agent to purchase “radioactive sources and test materials” from a company in Connecticut. Requested products included barium 133 source and europium 152 source.

In January 2011, the indictment adds, Khaki asked the agent to purchase and ship cobalt 57 source and cadmium 109 source. There is no indication those contacts went beyond mere discussion.

“By dismantling this complex conspiracy to deliver nuclear-related materials from the United States to Iran, we have disrupted a significant threat to national security,” John Morton, director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in a statement.

The Christian Science Monitor (http://s.tt/1hPkL)

**Gio7707** · 09-04-2012, 12:21 AM

Iran could strike US bases if Israel attacks—Hezbollah | News | GMA News Online | The Go-To Site for Filipinos Everywhere

getting nervous ...I hope there will be dipomacy and a war can be avoided ...this would be an uncontrollable war ...

BEIRUT - Iran could hit US bases in the Middle East in response to any Israeli strike on its nuclear facilities even if American forces played no role in the attack, the leader of Lebanon's Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah said on Monday.

"A decision has been taken to respond and the response will be very great," Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in an interview with the Beirut-based Al Mayadeen television.

"The response will not be just inside the Israeli entity—American bases in the whole region could be Iranian targets," he said, citing information he said was from Iranian officials. "If Israel targets Iran, America bears responsibility."

**hjester** · 09-24-2012, 01:58 AM

It really is hard to mix water with oil and even though you try so hard to make them blend well, they always end up separation with one going on top of the other.

Though in this scenario, the one who holds the oil isn't exactly the one going on top which sure have been the scenario to begin with. It would be interesting to see how things ought to really unfold and how they could affect the market as it turns up.