Iran

Iran and India have made plans to ditch the petrodollar in favour of using rupees for future crude oil trades.  Indianexpress.com reports: Since 2013, Indian refiners have been depositing 45 per cent of their oil payments to Iran in rupees with UCO Bank and withholding the remainder after a payment route through Turkey’s Halkbank was stopped under US and European sanctions. The payment agreement needs amendment as tax exemption is contingent on the pact notified by the Centre in January 2012 which allows only 45 percent of oil payments in rupees.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner,

The recent column by Pat Buchanan could not be more spot on. It slices through the misbegotten assumption that Saudi Arabia is our ally and that the safety and security of the citizens of Lincoln NE, Spokane WA and Springfield MA have anything to do with the religious and political machinations of Riyadh and its conflicts with Iran and the rest of the Shiite world.

Pope Francis has warned that the “end of days begin now” and that the crisis involving Iran and Saudi Arabia represents a “tribulation on a timeline” that will “climax in the end of the world.” Addressing crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square in the Vatican for the celebration of Epiphany, the Pope took the opportunity to warn followers that the Middle East crisis will lead directly to the fulfilment of various Bible prophecies.

Submitted by Patrick Buchanan via Buchanan.org,

The New Year’s execution by Saudi Arabia of the Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr was a deliberate provocation.

Its first purpose: Signal the new ruthlessness and resolve of the Saudi monarchy where the power behind the throne is the octogenarian King Salman’s son, the 30-year-old Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman.

 

Second, crystallize, widen and deepen a national-religious divide between Sunni and Shiite, Arab and Persian, Riyadh and Tehran.

 

“It’s not as if you have an Iranian alternative. And if you have no alternative, your best choice is to stop complaining about the Saudis.”

That’s a quote from a “senior Gulf Arab official” who spoke to The New York Times about Washington's position on the sectarian strife playing out across the Mid-East.

As a refresher, an already volatile situation took a decisive turn for the worst over the weekend when Saudi Arabia executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, sparking outrage across the Shiite community.