– Vladimir Putin signs historic $20bn oil deal with Iran to bypass Western sanctions (Telegraph, Aug 6, 2014):
Five-year accord will see Russia help Iran organise oil sales, but government denies it has violated international obligations
Vladimir Putin has agreed a $20bn (£11.8bn) trade deal with Iran that will see Russia sidestep Western sanctions on its energy sector.
Under the terms of a five-year accord, Russia will help Iran organise oil sales as well as “cooperate in the oil-gas industry, construction of power plants, grids, supply of machinery, consumer goods and agriculture products”, according to a statement by the Energy Ministry in Moscow.
The Russian government issued a new statement on Wednesday after mysteriously withdrawing a similar release on Tuesday.
Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that his government will help Iran bring its oil to market. In return, Iran wants to imort power and pump equipment, steel products such as pipes, machinery for its leather and textile industries, wood, wheat, pulses, oilseeds and meat.
Iran “is also interested in the joint construction of power generation and development of coal deposits”, Mr Novak added.
No surprise. The entire world has been doing business with Iran for years. US sanctions have (as usual) backfired because none of these nations use the dollar any longer. US behavior has caused better than half the world to dump the dollar and adopt the basket of currencies Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa set up. Many others have joined, including Iran, Turkey, India, Japan, most emerging African nations, much of central and south America, Australia, and New Zealand, among others.
Putting sanctions on nations that no longer use the dollar is beyond stupid……..it will be four years come November since this movement began in earnest.
Beautiful.