The Chinese government issued its first petroyuan-denominated long-term oil trading contracts in the spring of 2018, with the move posing an audacious challenge to the petrodollar - the powerful instrument of global trade and finance ensuring the US dollar's status as the de facto world reserve currency for over 50 years now.
Saudi minister of industry and mineral resources Bandar Al-Khorayef told the South China Morning Post this week that Riyadh is ready to “do what’s in its best interest” and “try new things,” including as far as the use of the petroyuan in settlements for crude oil are concerned.
The comments, made on the eve of Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s trip to Saudi Arabia and the UAE starting Wednesday to discuss expanded cooperation with the oil rich Gulf kingdoms, signal a "new dawn" in relations between China and Gulf powers, Dr. Wang Zhimin, director of the Institute of Globalization at China’s University of International Business and Economics, told Sputnik.
“In energy cooperation between China and the Middle East, settlements using the yuan have become an important topic. The expansion of the use of the currency in settlements for energy transactions is a gradual and long-term process that requires step-by-step reforms, opening up, and natural market selection. In addition, given the relationship with the United States, the process of using the yuan to settle cross-border oil transactions by countries such as Saudi Arabia may encounter certain difficulties,” Wang said, pointing to US efforts to shore up the petrodollar as Washington’s global economic hegemony fades.
Pointing to the trend of “dedollarization” in China-Middle East trade, Wang cited the currency swap agreement reached between Beijing and Riyadh last year, and interest in using the yuan for oil payments as a reflection of a “growing trend of diversification of the international monetary system, including the decline of the dollar’s share in international payments.”
Russian economist Nikita Maslennikov says the petroyuan has good prospects as a major alternative to the petrodollar, which could leave it accounting for up to 8% of global transactions by 2030, notwithstanding “strong pressure, including political pressure, from other market players," and other factors.
“Sooner or later a single BRICS settlement system will emerge, and Saudi Arabia is also going to be part of it,” Maslennikov said, noting that it’s “extremely difficult” to predict the future status of the petroyuan amid plans by some countries to forge ahead with an “energy transition,” and take other steps, like launching digital currencies, which could lead “to a significant adjustment of settlements in national currencies.”......more below
A report says at least 16 US military aircraft have been lost since the start of the American-Israeli aggression against Iran, including 10 Reaper strike drones destroyed and a half-dozen other planes badly damaged.
Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the issue, reported that Iranian defenses have so far brought down the uncrewed Reapers, with at least nine being destroyed in the air, and one was hit at an airfield in Jordan by a ballistic missile.
The other two Reapers were reportedly lost to accidents.
The report claimed that the most serious losses were due accidents, including three US F-15s purportedly downed by “friendly fire” in Kuwait, and a KC-135 tanker destroyed during a refueling operation.
That’s while the Islamic Resistance in Iraq last week said that its fighters managed to intercept a strategic KC-135 aircraft belonging to the US military in the skies over...
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, has hailed the historic striking of an American F-35 stealth fighter by Iranian forces, declaring that the destruction of this symbol of US arrogance marks the collapse of the Western-led world order.
In a Friday post on his X account, Qalibaf emphasized that the jet represented the core of Washington's delusions of military supremacy.
"The F-35 was not just a fighter jet, it was a monument to the invincibility and arrogance of the American military; a theological symbol, claimed to be invisible to any eye and superior to all power," he wrote before citing a Qur'anic verse: "however, 'the Hand of Allah is above their hands'." (Holy Qur'an, 10:48)
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) confirmed that its advanced, modern air defense systems successfully neutralized the fifth-generation stealth aircraft over central Iran’s airspace at 2:50 a.m. local time on Thursday.
The Parliament Speaker noted that the myth of American stealth ...
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has strongly denounced the recent blasphemous remarks against Jesus Christ by the Israeli regime’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
"For a man so reliant on goodwill of Christians in the United States, Netanyahu's open disdain for Jesus Christ (PBUH) is remarkable," Araghchi said on Friday on X.
Netanyahu’s unbridled praise for Genghis Khan, "the worst slaughterer our region has ever seen, also fits with his current status as a wanted war criminal," the top Iranian diplomat added.
During a televised address on Thursday, Netanyahu lauded those who disobeyed the path of Jesus and instead committed crimes.
"Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good. Aggression will overcome moderation," Netanyahu said.
The clip of Netanyahu's remark went viral, with many interpreting the comments as blasphemous and anti-Christian.
Condemnations also poured in...
