The National Iranian Drilling Company (NIDC) has renewed its offer to assist the US in reining in an ecologically disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mehran Alinejad, the head of special drilling operations at NIDC, pointed to the experience gained by Iranian experts in containing huge oil leaks during the eight-year Iraqi-imposed war in the 1980s, and said, “Iranian technical teams have had major achievements in oil well capping and the Gulf of Mexico oil rig is not a great feat in comparison.”
Besides the point. The question isn’t how clean they keep their country, it’s how good they are with capping oil wells, and if it’s useful to let them help.
Also, that’s not an oil specific list; and we aren’t even all that much higher on it. 63.5 compared to 60.0? Not exactly a huge edge.
Given that the US has far more factories, cars, and a greater overall power needs, to still come out ahead is fairly impressive. But more importantly, I interpret the OP as an attempt at a “Nyahah, you guys suck!” Trying to thumb your nose at someone who you are worse at doesn’t really stand.
Where’s the debate? You’ve just cited an Iranian state-run propaganda network that’s trying to make a political point… that you seem to be supporting. But that ignores the facts involved.
Obviously, this has nothing to do with UN sanctions and experience capping oil wells on dry land is just a biiiiiit different than capping them deep under water.
This isn’t a debate, it’s a set of false premises wrapped up in a bifurcation fallacy.
It wasn’t “Iran” that offered to help, it was one Iranian firm. They don’t have any solutions, they’ve merely offered to look at the data. It hasn’t been “The US” trying to seal the leak, it’s been BP. And the US government has already said that if BP can’t meet their responsibility, they’ll find someone who can.
That’s the point, of course.
An Iranian firm made some general offers of general advice, and also claims that they’re unable to proceed until they receive "a suitable response from relevant [American] officials " (whatever that means). Except the US government hasn’t been handling the spill, it’s been BP. And it’s telling that we’re getting this story for Iran’s state-run propaganda services trying to score points about it, rather than having the Iranian oil folks simply talk to BP and attempt to collaborate on technical issues.
Iranian oil firms don’t require US permission to talk to BP. Nor do they require US permission to offer advice or receive information from BP to better craft a solution. This is simply nonsensical Iranian state propaganda aimed at tweaking America’s nose. Not surprising, but hardly a real debate for this forum.
As far as I know, Iran has no deep water oil production. In, fact I’m not sure they have deep water. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t have usefu technology, but makes me dubious.
Better question for debate: why doesn’t Iran take up the United States’ offer to improve the quality of life of Iranians by ending its tyrannical government and support for terrorism?
As long as we are throwing in irrelevancies, why doesn’t America stop invading countries that aren’t a threat to it and end its blind worship of the rich?
That has as much to do with the subject of the thread.
If the US is to be condemned for not taking the “helpful” advice of Iran, then Iran surely is not above reproach for failing to accept Western advice on not being a dictatorship, etc.
In addition, if Iranian experts were to go to the area of the oil spill, they’d need visas to enter the U.S. – and the decision about granting them would probably be made at a fairly high level in the U.S. government.
I think it’s an offer made for propaganda purposes more than anything else, knowing that BP and the U.S. government are unlikely to take up the offer.
BP is a British company. No permission is needed from the US govt for them to consult on technical matters, as long as any “technology transfer” is going from Iran to BP, and not the other way around. British govt permission, on the other hand is up to British law. Not my field.
That said, what kind of technical expertise do the Iranians actually have? All their oil industry technology came from foreign companies, BP among them. I seriously doubt that they have developed anything on their own that might be very helpful.
But BP is operating in the U.S. through subsidiaries that are incorporated in the U.S., such as BP America Inc. Because they are operating in the U.S., and particularly because the subsidiaries are incorporated in the U.S., they are subject to U.S. law, including the embargo on trade with Iraq.
If they really have something they can do to help, then we should swallow our pride and accept it. Of course, it’s still possible that this is just a political bluff, and they don’t have anything constructive to offer at all.
