InvestorMind

Today at noon Eastern, the storied aircraft carrier Enterprise, aka CVN-65 , left its home port of Naval Station Norfolk one final time for its final voyage with a heading: Arabian Sea, aka Iran. There in a week it will join CVN 72 Lincoln and CVN 70 Vinson, as well as LHD 8 Makin Island, all of which are supporting any potential escalation of "hostilities" in the Persian Gulf region. As a reminder, back in January we learned that the Enterprise's final voyage will be in proximity to Iran , and in the meantime, the aircraft carrier held extended drills off the Florida coast to attack a "faux theocracy"  consisting of fundamentalist "Shahida" states. Why the Arabian Sea in about 7-10 days will be home to not two but three aircraft carriers and a big deck amphibious warfare ship is very much an open question, although we may have some thoughts.  More : Thousands of sailors will deploy today from Norfolk on the USS Enterprise for the last ti...

Interviewed by Louis James, Casey Research US-Iranian saber-rattling or impending shoot-out? In his usual, candid manner, contrarian investor Doug Casey talks about why he believes it's serious this time… why the US is the greatest threat to peace today… why Iran might move towards a gold standard… and what smart investors should do. L: Doug-sama, I've heard you say you think the US is setting Iran up to be the next fall guy in the wag-the-dog show – do you think it could really come to open warfare? Doug: Yes, I do. It could just be saber rattling during an election year, but Western powers have been provoking Iran for years now – two decades, really. I just saw another report proclaiming that Iran is likely to attack the US, which is about as absurd as the allegations Bush made about Iraq bombing the US, when he fomented that invasion. It's starting to look rather serious at this point, so I do think the odds favor actual fighting in the not-too-distant future. L:...

Foster Gamble on Iran.

In what is likely a long overdue move, Iran has finally decided to give Europe a harsh lesson in game theory. Instead of letting Euro-area politicians score brownie points at its expense by threatening to halt imports and cut off the Iranian economy, the Iranian government will instead propose a bill calling for an immediate halt to oil deliveries to Europe . The move, with most reports citing the Iranian news agency Mehr, has come about in response to the EU agreement to impose sanctions against Iran, which were announced earlier this week. And why not? After all if Europe is indeed serious, sooner or later Iran will be cut off but in the meantime experience significant policy uncertainty, which is precisely what the flipflops on the ground need. The one thing that Europe, however is forgetting, is that all that whopping 0.8 Mb/d in imports will simply find a new buyer.Quickly. So with China, India and Russia already having bilateral agreements with Iran in place, we ar...

The US has slammed Iran for beginning to enrich uranium at a new underground facility southwest of the capital Tehran. The State department called it a further escalation in Tehran's violation of UN resolutions. Afshin Rattansi, journalist and author told RT that only one thing can cause the United States to push for a confrontation with Iran -- and it is not the threat of execution of one of its citizens. The answer, according to Rattansi is crude and simple. RT on Twitter http://twitter.com/RT_com RT on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RTnews

With investors concerned about the recent plunge in gold and silver and questions about what is going to happen with Iran and the Straits of Hormuz, today King World News interviewed KWN resident expert Jim Rickards. Rickards has gained international recognition for his deadly accurate predictions regarding moves by central planners. Rickards let KWN know that the US is headed to war with Iran: “Yeah, it’s very serious, Eric, actually grave. The big thing to get right in this case is that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, period. That’s just not going to happen. Now we know they (Iran & its allies) are pushing towards it and so there is going to be a train wreck.” Jim Rickards continues: “The Obama administration has pursued diplomacy very vigorously. My view is it has failed. (The other possibility) would be a regime change. I say the war has already begun. There’s a lot of sabotage, there have been assassinations, strange things blowing up, rebellio...

THE United States has announced fresh sanctions against Iran's energy sector and warned firms against dealing with Iran's financial sector, as it tries to ''sharpen'' Iran's choice to pursue nuclear weapons. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, unveiling what she called a ''significant ratcheting up of pressure on Iran'', said today that the US is targeting Iran's energy sector directly for the first time. ''Recent days have brought new evidence that Iran's leaders have continued to defy their international obligations,'' said Clinton. Detailing sanctions against goods, services and technologies for the vital petrochemical sector, Clinton said ''there have to be consequences of such behaviour''. Iran's energy sales are thought to account for around 70 per cent of the government's budget and are crucial to the broader Iranian economy. In tandem Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner issued ...