re: u.s. preparing military strike on petroeuro
One wonders if the importance of Iran as an oil producer is not, in this piece, over-rated. A few years ago (2003) Iran was responsible for about 14% of Persian Gulf crude exports; Saudi Arabia was at 44%.
While the U.S. is keeping the world economy afloat (as an importer) there is little chance of Asia, in particular and Europe to a lesser extent biting the hand that feeds it.
There seems much more concern in Europe about the threat of Iran's nuclear ambitions than there was about Iraq's WMD. Thus Europe has been putting the pressure on Iran whilst the U.S has been sitting more or less on the sidelines. That points to a European political settlement as the only option likely to be pursued. (That doesn't rule out an Israeli pre-emptive targeted missile strike).
