the world oil markets are paying close attention. we have more. reporter: it s all about iran at the moment when it comes to oil. with the deadline for a nuclear deal looming large, oil traders think at least a framework will be reached to clear a path forward. that s because iran is one of opec s largest producer with break evens for the country reported at over $100 a barrel u.s. imposed sanctions are hitting the country where it hurts. the iransians subsidized a lot of things in that country. they re not able to do that if they re not selling the oil. they can barely fund things that they need to do infrastructure projects things like that. definitely the last two years of sanctions have hurt them greatly. reporter: but a nuclear deal could lead to sanctions willing lifted. that could lead to the decline
seriously about diversifying energy, and this is careerly part of the reason, and part of the reason that russia is under pressure. the price of oil has dropped but the ruble has also dropped and the price of your currency is a sign of people s confidence in the regime. isn t it fair to say that the obama strategy of pressuring russia and making it pay some price has worked? i think it s fair to say that sanctions, which came tougher sanctions which came a bit too late certainly for the people of donetsk and luhansk is affected as part of a larger reality which is the extraordinary transition in the world oil markets, the rise of the united states to its place as the premiere producer, and the decision by saudi arabia for really unrelated causes not to put a floor on the price of oil. and this combination of factors is creating a happy sort of a happy confluence of events which is putting great pressure on putin. how he reacts to that i m a little bit concerned about his way of g
from energy. clearly this is part of the reason russia is under pressure. the price of oil has dropped but the ruble has also dropped and the price of your currency is a sign of people s confidence in the regime. isn t it fair to say that the obama strategy of pressuring russia and making it pay some price has worked? i think it s fair to say that sanctions, which came tougher sanctions which came a bit too late certainly for the people of donetsk and luhansk is affected as part of a larger reality which is the extraordinary transition in the world oil markets, the rise of the united states to its place as the premiere producer, and the decision by saudi arabia for really unrelated causes not to put a floor on the price of oil. and this combination of factors is creating a happy sort of a happy confluence of events which is putting great pressure on putin. how he reacts to that i m a little bit concerned about his way of getting out of this. so that s a very important
is this enough violence to maybe change their minds? it s not clear. or to change their calculus politically. they both decided earlier this year, you know, i m not compromising. besides the violence that we do see and lives being at risk once again, what else is at stake in the grander scheme, in this current conflict we re seeing? the danger is, you know, you ve already got isis taking over large parts of iraq. that s destabilizing world oil markets. you ve got syria, millions of refugees, over a million refugees being produced from there. and if you have conflict now starting in israel in the west bank, this is all, you know, going to be a big question for the obama administration. he s got low approval ratings. he ll be expected to somehow help. how is the question. but back to economics. it s going to drive up oil prices if you have, you know, this kind of violence across the region. and that will impact an economy that s starting to pick up. the job numbers were very good las
be taken control over major output significant refineries, that could be a source of concern. as you might expect, world oil markets react to any kind of instability in the middle east. one of our goals should be to make sure that in cooperation with other countries in the region, not only are we creating shall sort of backstop in terms of what is happening inside of iraq, but if there do end up being disruptions inside of iraq, that some of the other producers in the gulf are able to pick up the slack. so that will be part of the consultations that will be taking place during the course of this week. just to give people a sense of timing here, although events on the ground in iraq have baby happ been happening very quickly, our ability to plan whether it s military action or work with the iraqi government on some of these political issues will take