Iranian Government to Invest in US Dollars

This headline almost sounds like it should be published in The Onion, but this is in fact real news. The Iranian government’s official PressTV has announced that the Iranian central bank is selling 45 Billion Euros and replacing them with U.S. Dollars and gold ingots.

This clearly means that the mad mullah’s of Tehran believe that the Euro will continue it’s fall against the USD.  In fact, the sale of such a large amount of Euros could push the Euro lower, due to the law of supply and demand.

This sale could mean that the Iranians know about a pending terrorist attack against one or more EU nations and are seeking to shield themselves from the financial repercussions of such an attack.  A major terrorist attack in Europe would be very likely to damage the value of the Euro for several years.

Less clear is why the Iranian government is not considering a move into the currencies of nations friendlier to their totalitarian regime.  Options include Turkey, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, China, and Russia.  They could invest in a basket of currencies to distribute their risk across many nations and continents. Ahmadinejad has called the US Dollar a “worthless piece of paper” — and now he’s buying tens of billions of them.