Fascinating and fascinatinger

It’s actually kind of interesting that Iran, a country that we are officially not speaking to, values its foreign exchange reserves in our currency… but it’s even more fascinating that Iran has just announced that, “in light of all the pressure we are putting on” (that, and that the dollar’s value is falling… a lot), Iran will now shift its reserve currency out of dollars and into euros sayeth the BBC. Indeed, Iran will now aspire to conduct all of its foreign business in euros. None of this is greatly unexpected.
Before jumping to the immediate conclusion that a war– possibly a nuclear war– with Iran is now imminent (especially if you’re hip enough to remember what happened the last time an OPEC member stopped denominating its oil in dollars and began doing so in euros… or indeed, how warmly our government treats an OPEC member when it even suggests that it might) … let’s just keep one thing in mind.
The Beeb’s Iran piece contains one key glimmer of hope for humanity:

The currency move will apply to oil sales although it is expected that Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, will still accept oil payments in dollars.

That means we can all sleep more soundly tonight. Don’t think I’m kidding.