Well Done Iran........

The thrust of the previous post was that yet another chance for advancing US-Iranian comity was slipping away. As someone who wishes ill towards neither party, since creating this blog, I have elected to be a watchdog of sorts, keeping tabs on how these two estranged nations interact with one another and periodically, when events warrant, use the blog as a soapbox from which I can launch a broadside or two when either government screws up or offer a nod of approval when they get it right. Well, due to the crisis spawned by Katrina I found it sorely lacking that the government in Tehran could muster nothing better than condolences for the victims left in Katrina's wake, which when translated from the parlance of international relations amounted to the diplomatic equivalent of a social nicety.

Alas....Tehran has improved it's standing with this critic as it was reported by the BBC this morning that Iran is prepared to immediately send 20 million barrels of crude to the US and assist the fragile economic condition of the country at a time when our own supplies have been dramatically curtailed. Kudos to the forward thinking individual in Tehran for this gesture. Notwithstanding the wall of mistrust that separates Washington and Tehran, diplomacy and national interests must not play second fiddle to ideology and political posturing. As we all know, Katrina's impact on our ability to refine crude has been the most damaging result of the storm on the hydrocarbon sector of the economy, but with an injection of 20 million barrels of Iranian crude the pressure on US refining capacity will be significantly alleviated. Since Iranian oil is the 'good stuff' - that is, not all oil is created equally if u will (Iranian oil is described as 'light sweet crude' as opposed to the 'heavier' and therefore more intensively refined) meaning the need for refinenment is substantially reduced. Just as Iran accepted US aid during the Bam earthquake, let's hope Washington will do the same now.