Irans War On Us Costs It A Bundle - Road to the Middle Class

EVER SINCE the Khomeini revolution in Iran the mullahs have been running a low-grade war against the United States. We often complain about the annoyance and the cost of Iran and its Islamist terrorism. But Amir Taheri gives us a glimpse of the cost to Iran.

Nowhere is the cost of the so-called "War against the Infidel" more apparent than in Iran's oil industry. Projections made in 1977 envisaged the Iranian oil off-take to reach a daily capacity of 6.5 million barrels, with another 1.5 million available as emergency reserves. The capacity of the Kharg terminal, the chief export facility for Iranian oil, was increased from 5.5 million barrels a day to 8 million.

But lack of investment, and the virtual impossibility of accessing highly complex technology, has meant a steady decline. Today, the Islamic Republic produces something like 3.8 million barrels a day - a level Iran had surpassed in 1973.

And that is saying nothing about the cost of having the economy run by a bunch of politicians and activists. We arranged the 20th century, remember, as a demonstration of the economic ability of politicians vs. businessmen.

But what has Iran gained strategically? It is true that Iran has obtained a foothold in Lebanon and in Palestine.

The United States, on the other hand, has made a spectacular incursion in what could be regarded as Iran's geopolitical habitat in West and Central Asia, the Caspian Basin, Transcaucasia and the Middle East. The Americans are now militarily present in all but two of Iran's 15 neighboring countries.

Where have we seen that before? Didn�t the Soviet Union boast that it would bury the US and find itself, in the end, surrounded by the US and its clients?

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.

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