Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, September 20
Iran’s OPEC head, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, recently accused Saudi Arabia and Russia of taking the international oil market “hostage.” He claimed that the two countries have been “stealing” Iran’s share of the international oil market. When I heard this statement, it immediately reminded me of Saddam Hussein, who, in an effort to deflect attention away from his own regime’s wrongdoings in the early 1990s, accused Kuwait of manipulating oil prices to the detriment of Baghdad. However, the truth of the matter is that Iran’s share of oil exports had dwindled due to the Iranian regime itself. Iran always maintained large oil reserves, from which it intentionally extracted only small quantities, in an effort to keep prices up. Of these barrels, even fewer were made available for international buyers. Therefore, Iran’s share of the global oil market has been small regardless of Saudi Arabia or Russia. Now, with the second wave of American sanctions against Iran set to kick in in just a few weeks, Tehran’s last remaining trade partners are walking away. Forced to choose between buying cheap Iranian oil and doing business with the United States, most countries are opting for the latter. This will send Iranian oil exports into an even more dramatic plunge. In other words, the Iranian crisis is a direct result of the Iranian political agenda. While Saudi Arabia makes use of its oil reserves to fund new initiatives in the Kingdom, improve infrastructure, and launch strategic plans to benefit its citizens, Iran has made use of oil dollars to fund its military campaigns in the Middle East. This resulted in a dysfunctional economy that lacks any mechanisms to reinvent itself in the wake of these new sanctions. The Iranian leadership is desperately trying to blame others for the country’s financial crisis in order to salvage whatever credibility it has left in the eyes of its public. But the people of Iran know very well that their government has forsaken them in favor of military expansionism and international isolation. –Abd al-Rahman al-Rashed