This objection is no longer quite as potent a reason for inaction:
Oil prices tumbled below $40 for the first time since the summer of 2004 Wednesday despite an announcement from OPEC of a record production cut of 2.2 million barrels a day.
The drop shows that even the mighty Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries has little sway over a growing global recession, analysts said. Crude prices are down more than 72 percent from their summer peak of $147 a barrel, yet tankers continue to idle in the Gulf of Mexico and other ports waiting for buyers.
"There's just so much oil in inventory out there right now," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "Nobody wants to buy this stuff."
The oil glut and the reduction of production now means worries about oil supplies is no longer an issue. There is excess production capacity that could make up for Iran's exit from the oil market. And the downward pressure on oil prices would muffle the upward pressure that would result from an attack.
Iran has counted on Western oil hunger to protect them. Will they make a major mistake in the belief that this factor still holds true, which would justify an American-led attack?
