Iran, Oil and Dollars

It seems Iran is working deals to sell oil in currency other than US dollars. This is a big deal because part of the United States economic and political power in the world depends on oil being traded in US dollars. This forces other countries that use oil to hold large reserves of dollars, which is good for the US for various reasons, among them the effect of dollar inflation on the value of those holdings.

United Press International - International Security - Energy - Analysis

Faced with U.S. economic sanctions and a weak dollar, Tehran is demanding foreign energy companies do business in yen and euros, despite increasingly desperate need for investment.

In a deal announced last week, Japan’s Nippon Oil agreed to buy oil from Iran using yen instead of the traditional U.S. dollars. The agreement comes after years of Iranian efforts to shift its petroleum exports away from dollars and toward yen and euros.