Economist: Iran’s oil industry will collapse by 2015
Allahpundit

Even hypothetical good news is scarce enough these days to warrant a post. Bibi Netanyahu accused the mullahs last week of wanting to build another “thousand-year reich”; sounds like theirs is primed to last about as long as the first one did.

Iran is suffering a staggering decline in revenue from its oil exports, and if the trend continues income could virtually disappear by 2015, according to an analysis published yesterday in a journal of the National Academy of Sciences…

He said oil production is declining and both gas and oil are being sold domestically at highly subsidized rates. At the same time, Iran is neglecting to reinvest in its oil production. ...

Is it really good news? Long term, sure. But mid term, it may make their designs on Iraq that much more urgent. Plus, they’re already taking heat from younger Iranians for jerking around with nukes while the country’s economy is in a shambles; if the bottom drops out and they start to fear a revolution, they might make a move on one of their neighbors to turn the domestic discontent outward. Most intel experts predict they’ll have the bomb within five to ten years, too, so we can look forward to all of this playing out before a rich tapestry of nuclear paranoia. Good times, good times.

Then again, would the Saudis really let that happen? They’ve already threatened (through a mouthpiece) to double their oil production and bring Iran to its knees economically. Imagine it: a new regime in Tehran and a buck twenty-five a gallon at the pump. Sweet.

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So The Message Got Delivered, Then
Ed Morrissey

Iran has acknowledged that its oil industry has fallen on hard times, and guess who they blame for their troubles? The Great Satan, this time, might not mind:

Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh has lamented that the development of Iran's oil industry was suffering from US pressure.

"Iran has been under different sanctions for years and many companies have not been able to cooperate with our country for fear of US pressures," Vaziri Hamaneh said, according to the semi-official news agency Fars on Tuesday.

"They even do not easily deliver some dual-purpose equipment that we had previously bought. They cause trouble for us under different pretexts," he said.

Thanks for confirming the receipt of our messsage, Vaziri! Their own government has made it clear that they see us as an enemy at conferences where attendees were asked by their president to imagine a world without America and Israel. I guess imagining that would also imagine a world without the spare parts they need to fix their production issues at their oilfields. ...