No need to revise my standing prediction that an Iranian Oil Bourse will never open and that if it did, it would not be much of a threat to the dollar. However the interview is interesting and provides no fuel for the conspiracy theorists who see the Bourse as such a huge threat to the dollar that the U.S. is waging war wherever another currency is suggested as a medium.

Firstly, Cook is dismissive of the ideas that the bourse could hurt the dollar, echoing my claim that "it is not so much the currency you are selling, but what you do with the proceeds". He also makes it very clear that the reason other currencies aren't used is not because the U.S. is threatening everyone, but because they wouldn't work.

Chris Vernon claims "The Iranians liked the idea, the Saudis however couldn't support it due to US connections. After 9/11 the Saudi's withdrew their objections." It is not clear where he got this from and it seems like pure speculation. Are the Saudis supporting it now? How? Why don't they want a bourse in Saudi Arabia?

I would like to see more substantive information on the problems he claims exists and how the bourse would solve them. Cook blames the Iranian government for the lack of progress, but it seems that the problems he hopes to address may not exist and the mechanism for addressing them is not at all clear.

The purpose of the oil bourse appears to be to eliminate speculators and middlemen. But he doesn't explain why these are such enduring problems. If middlemen are making too much money, why don't others compete with them? How do investment bankers and oil traders have a protected market? What sort of spread are they getting and what would be appropriate?

He claims speculators will be barred from the bourse, but doesn't say who they are or why they harm the market. Cook dismisses the fatal flaw of credit risk by saying that there will be a "Clearing Function" and doesn't address why a regional market should be in Iran and not, say, Dubai.

Overall, the ideas behind the bourse seem very general and loosely formed. He can barely state the nature of the problem and provides little convincing detail of how the bourse could address them. As I have stated before the main purpose of talking about the Iran Oil Bourse is talking about the Iran Oil Bourse. It will never happen, and I am sure that Iranians know it.