Petro-Euro: A reality or distant nightmare for the U.S.?

[G2099]

The dollar has long been the dominant currency for international oil trade and the U.S. economy has benefited hugely from this status as it has led to being the world’s largest reserve currency kept by State Banks the world over. It is an open secret that since the 1970’s, OPEC (i.e. Saudi Arabia) has been instructed by the U.S. to only trade in US Dollars.

The debate over the ultimate financial impact of trading oil in Euros rather than dollars is a complex one, but according to many experts, such a move could lead to a collapse in value for the American currency, potentially putting the U.S. economy in its greatest crisis since the depression era of the 1930s. The IOB has been on Iran's agenda for quite some time and different dates have informally been announced for its opening, all which have been quietly dropped as the deadline neared. The question is whether Iran wishes to have the nuclear issue resolved before taking on the US Dollar in the IOB or whether Iran has been intimidated by U.S. pressure and threats of possible nuclear strikes and decided to postpone the IOB indefinitely.

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=11145