How Gold Helped Iran Withstand U.S. Financial Fury
5/23/2014
Throughout much of 2012 and 2013, the United States and Iran fought a financial war. With the benefit of hindsight, my friend Jim Rickards calls it a draw.
I was able to document this war as it was happening. Now Rickards helps fill in the rest of the story during a brief passage in his new book The Death of Money: The Coming Collapse of the International Monetary System.
First, let’s backtrack. In March 2012, the United States and European Union beefed up their economic sanctions on Iran, shutting Iran out of the global payments network called SWIFT. Also in March 2012, Turkey’s gold exports to Iran doubled from the month before and exploded 37 times over the March 2011 figure.
“Natural gas is the source of almost all electricity in Turkey. I wrote in Apogee Advisory. “More than 90% of Iran’s gas exports go to Turkey. Iran furnishes 18% of Turkey’s natural gas. Without Iran, Turkey would depend almost entirely on a single gas supplier to keep the lights on–Russia. Under the sanctions, Turkey can’t pay for Iranian gas with dollars or euros. So it pays with gold.”
more...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2014/05/23/how-gold-helped-iran-withstand-u-s-financial-fury/
