Oil prices look poised for further upside from a technical standpoint but tensions in the Middle East will remain the key driver of Oil prices in the week ahead. Will we see a fresh YTD high?
is exercising around the straights of hormuz and i think they re trying to ratchet up the impression that they re prepared to do almost anything militarily to protect themselves. i think in this case as well they re trying to intimidate the obama administration and many european countries that don t want to see those sanctions increased. jon: well the u.s. navy s fifth fleet has answered as i said saying that any closure of the strait of hormuz will not be tolerated. the fifth fleet could essentially sink the entire iranian navy if it wanted to, right? yeah. i ve had many conversations with military officials here in this country over the years and it s not bluster and it s not boast. it s a fact if the iranians tried to block the straits of hormuz it would be a matter of two or three days at the most before the straits were reopened. the damage caused to iran would not just be to its navy which would be on the bottom of the sea but to a
million barrels of excess oil reserves. at the last opec meeting on december 24th said it would bring that production on-line to bring stability but none of this is taking into account iran s threat to close the hormuz straight. the state department is calling the iranian threat a bluster. the u.s. fifth fleet put out a statement saying that it would not allow the straits to be closed. julie. julie: jennifer griffin reporting from the pentagon. thanks so much, jennifer. reporter: thank you. julie: we ll learn more about this situation. former u.n. ambassador john bolton will give his take on how exactly we should respond to this threat. jon: well, with just six days to go till the iowa caucuses newt gingrich is criticizing ron paul, the new frontrunner in the iowa polls. the former house speaker calling congressman paul worse than president obama. chris wallace, the anchor of fox news sunday , joins us from washington. i guess it is natural to go after the frontrunner but
minnesota. back to you. julie: rick, thank you so much. jon? jon: iran delivers a sharp threat in response to tough proposed new sanctions from washington. tehran is threatening to block all oil shipments that pass through the strait of hormuz. it s a vital, narrow artery that handles almost 1/5 of the world s crude oil every day. new reaction from the u.s. navy s fifth fleet saying disruption of this waterway will not be tolerated. joining us now to give us his take on what iran is doing, former u.n. ambassador john bolton. they are in this posture because the u.s. is threatening them with even tougher economic sanctions, correct, ambassador? right. but i think you have to take this latest threat in the context of the increased tensions over their nuclear weapons programs and the speculation which has been growing that israel might take military action against that program. right now the iranian navy