Iran

Submitted by Rakesh Upadhyay via OilPrice.com,

Traditional rivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran, continue to fight to prove their supremacy in OPEC. Neither gives up an opportunity to hurt the other, whenever and wherever they can, and oil seems to be their favourite playground.

With Saudi Arabia scuttling any chances of a production freeze in Doha in April, Iran has followed suit by thwarting attempts by Saudi Arabia to introduce a production ceiling on OPEC production in Thursday’s meeting held in Vienna.

Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,

This is a guest post, sent to me this week, by reader Craig Cantoni, a former military officer whose father is in a veteran’s cemetery.

Cantoni presents a historical picture on many levels as to what has happened and is still going on in the Middle East.

How Americans Came to Die in the Middle East by Craig Cantoni

Iran is ready for a “decisive and difficult confrontation” with the US after Hillary Clinton threatened Tehran with military action. A top Iranian military official hit back at the US presidential candidate for her hawkish comments on Iran, stressing that Tehran is fully prepared for a tough, direct confrontation against the US. Press TV reports: Defining her hawkish foreign policy in a speech Thursday in San Diego, Clinton said the US could disarm Iran by military action if she became the president.

With the OPEC meeting having started a little under two hours ago, it appears that the premature optimism raised yesterday about yet another imminent production freeze deal may have been mostly hot air. Indeed, yesterday's bounceback in oil was driven by the various reports of a potential reintroduction of a ceiling on production after the previous ceiling was scrapped in December. The WSJ ran a story suggesting that the willingness is shared by Saudi Arabia as well as smaller producers in Nigeria, Qatar, Algeria and Venezuela.

Iran have banned its pilgrims from travelling to Saudi Arabia to take part in the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage, accusing the country of failing to guarantee the safety of Iranian citizens.  Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia remain high after the countries cut off diplomatic ties with each other following the execution of a Shia Cleric in Saudi Arabia.