US targets Iran, Russia with OPEC oil

American author Dean Henderson says the dramatic drop in oil prices is directly related to the end of the petrodollar and that the US is trying to punish Russia and Iran that ended the petrodollar.

Oil prices have dropped to new multi-year lows in the Asian markets following a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to maintain its current output ceiling.

On Monday, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for January delivery fell USD 1.49 a barrel, trading at USD 64.66, its lowest level since July 2009.

“It is an oil crash, it has to do with the end of the petrodollar,” Henderson, the author of “Big Oil and their Bankers,” told Press TV on Monday.

“US’s gold standard ended in the early 70s, when (former US president Richard) Nixon basically took the US off the gold standard (as) the Vietnam War forced us to do that because of the deaths we incurred,” he explained.

“We were unable even to pay the people back, like the French and they said ‘we are not taking the dollars anymore,’ so we’re forced off the gold standard,” he said.

Since 1972 “we’ve been on this petrodollar standard,” but a huge natural gas deal between Russia and China “broke the back of the petrodollar,” the analyst noted.

“They are trying to punish the Russians, and the BRICS, and Iran, and all the oil producing countries that they are outside the [P]GCC ([Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council), outside of their puppet monarchies who run the GCC,” he opined.