NCRI – Former member of the U.S. National Security Council, Professor Raymond Tanter, in an interview with the Al-Jazeera Television down played as "empty threats" mullahs’ supreme leader Ali Khamenei’s notice to disrupt the oil flow to the international market and called it baseless.
In reply to a question on whether the Secretary Rice’s downplay of Khamenei’s recent remarks was appropriate, he said: "The US secretary of State, in my view, leads a proper approach when she says Khamenei’s bullying about oil disruptions are baseless and empty, since some 70 to 80 percent of Iran’s main income is from oil. In other words, oil is the most important commodity in Iran’s economy. Over %20 of Iran’s oil export goes to Japan and some %10 to China. Disrupting the flow of oil for a country such as Iran means that the mullahs want to behead themselves."