Oil price hike over Iran biggest threat to US economy: Survey

Economists consider the recent hike in crude prices caused by sanctions imposed against Iran’s oil industry by Washington the biggest threat to the US economy.

According to the CNNmoney survey published on Wednesday, nine out of 18 participant economists said that the rising oil prices is now a bigger threat to the US economy than Washington’s ongoing gridlock over budget and fear of China’s economic slowdown.

This is while only five participant economists cited the European debt crisis as the biggest risk to the US economy.

On December 31, 2011, Washington imposed a new round of sanctions on Iran’s financial and energy sectors seeking to penalize other countries for importing Iranian crude or doing business with its central bank.

The EU followed suit by imposing similar sanctions on January 23, banning member states from importing crude oil from Iran or dealing with the country’s central bank.

Iran’s decision to impose countersanctions on the European countries, including halting oil exports to six European countries, has led to a hike in global oil prices, pushing gasoline prices in the US and the UK to record highs.

The rising gasoline prices have become a major issue in the US presidential election campaign.

Tehran has so far halted oil exports to France, Britain, Greece and Germany and is also considering halting crude sales to Italy.

The US, Israel and some of their allies accuse Tehran of pursuing military objectives in its nuclear energy program.