The US has been tightening the screw around Iran’s neck.
And as earlier postulated, part of the bailout package of the Eurozone comes with conditions for Europe to apply sanctions on Iran. I seem to have been validated
From the Wall Street Journal
The European Union approved a ban on oil imports from Iran, overcoming misgivings about the economic hardship of its members to take its strongest measures yet to press Tehran into concessions on its nuclear program.
News of a coming embargo by Iran's largest oil-export market shocked the country's troubled economy. Iran's currency, the rial, fell 10% to a record low on Monday, while gold prices rose.
The ban is set to take effect on July 1, following a review to ensure the weaker EU economies can find, and afford, new sources of oil. The EU also agreed to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank, the conduit for the country's oil revenue, and ban trade with its petrochemical industry.
"Our message is clear. We have no quarrel with the Iranian people," the leaders of France, Germany and the U.K. said. "But the Iranian leadership has failed to restore international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear program. We will not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon."
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said sanctions made Iran's conflict with the West tougher to resolve.
"The more they go down this path, the more obstacles we will have for reaching a final agreement," Mr. Araghchi told IRNA, Iran's official news agency.
The Obama administration applauded the EU decision on Monday and backed it up by blacklisting Iran's third-largest bank, Bank Tejarat, one of Tehran's few remaining conduits for trade with the West.
And instead of pressuring the leadership, as Presidential aspirant Ron Paul predicted, the average Iranians appear to be redirecting their frustrations at the US.
Again from the same article,
Iranians contacted Monday reacted with anger at news of the embargo, saying the people would suffer more than the government, amid rising inflation levels.
"These sanctions are affecting everyone's daily lives. I wish our government would put the good of 75 million people ahead of its pride and compromise," said an engineer in Tehran.
What the US (and Israel) would now be waiting for now is a Casus Belli (justification for acts of war: Wikipedia.org). And a beleaguered Iran may just oblige.
War is a diversionary ploy used by politicians to advance their self-interests.
I see the US political brinkmanship as an important variable to the coming US presidential election, and importantly, as pretext or justification to raise debt ceiling levels and to monetize US debts.
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