Forex news reported today that India had purchased oil from Iran, and paid for the transaction in gold. This report at this time is still unconfirmed, but if true, is an important event.
Several countries in the past have threatened to go away from the U.S. dollar in favor of another currency or gold, and Iran is certainly one of those countries, as was Iraq. The U.S. empire does not look kindly on those who do not bow down to the U.S. and its reserve currency. Wars and assassination attempts have been evident when other countries stray or even threaten to stray from the dollar when trading oil.
This could add to the already out of control tensions between the U.S. and Iran, but I expect more of this in the future, especially considering that the dollar will certainly continue to lose its value due to spending, bailouts, and inflationary monetary policies.
This is wise from an economic stanpoint for Iran, and gives India a favored position when purchasing oil from Iran. The stability of gold, and the probable increased value in the future will benefit those who are able to trade in real money. This could very easily threaten the future of the dollar, especially should other countries such as China follow suit.
This story should be carefully followed, because the consequences if this stands could be interesting to say the least. Given that the major player here is India, a very large and powerful nation, caution by the U.S. if considering any threatening posture should be the rule. This also adds to the risk of any U.S. attack of Iran, and anything that would impede that scenario is a positive here.