Iran: 907 tons of gold; why don't they just say fuck it, and back the Rial with gold/oil?

Because "official" numbers usually are made up or full of tungsten.

It might make life a bit better for the poor sods in Iran.

That is exactly what Gaddafi was about to do with the dinar - and look what happened to him.

Good point, but they hadn't cut Libya out of the SWIFT system, had they? -- so it kindof makes more sense to Ahmedinijad than Gadaffi, IMO.

Fresh water l..l

They can use oil or solar stills to desalinate, surely?

I think we will find that they messed up and can't refine oil into lighter fractions and so are dependent on foreign refineries. That's the weak point??

The debt being covered by gold is 1 thing, having the entire money supply covered by gold is another thing entirely (hence the gross external debt isn't really relevant in this particular discussion).

I guess so, but I think it might be possible to come up with a gold/oil mix backing $200 Bn?

e.g.:

[link to en.wikipedia.org]

currency and demand deposits—an aggregate commonly known as M1—were equal to $71.7 billion.

In that same year, M2—an aggregate equal to M1 plus savings deposits, small time deposits, and money market mutual funds—was $153.6 billion.

According to the CBI, the country's liquidity amounted to some $174 billion by April 2008,[47]
$197 billion by October 2009.[48]
and over $300 billion in 2011.[49]
Estimates put the amount of capital floating in Iran's market at $254 billion in 2012.[50]

for the NY "white shoe boys" ...

Since Gaddafi's gold was not enough to fund the bankster elitiists excesses, this is precisely why they want to get a hand on not just Iran's oil but also it's GOLD

Isn't the "what if" where gold is concerned the worry that some might come along and say, ok, I'll have the gold (or oil) instead?

During WW1 we (as in Britain) enacted laws to prevent people from changing in their paper money for gold, I would assume given how crappy the world is right now people would rather take the gold/oil than continue to use paper.

Just my thoughts, and if I am honest, I really don't fully understand the inner workings of these things..

This happened just before the currency crisis.

Report: Iran transfers $10 billion to Syria

[link to www.ynetnews.com]

And the Iranian leader was in NYC just days before.

Why dont they take measures to prevent the crisis? Because they are world players. The game is to move Islam into the west by causing regional destabilization.

Any gold backed currency or someone switching how we pay for oil from USD to something else would be that 'red line' we're all so curious about. Just ask Libya and their Dinar.

^^THIS

Iran is asking gold for its oil. They switched when the US froze their intl US$ trade accounts.

this...it's one of the main reasons for the war in Iraq. No one single-handedly messes with the petrodollar...but now it's becoming a full out attack...dollars days are numbered.