Word: bartering
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When he went to Tehran last week, Federal Energy Administrator Frank Zarb expected to talk only about oil prices. But then a reporter asked an unforeseen question. Was the Iranian government trying to barter its crude oil for U.S. military hardware? Yes, replied a startled Zarb. The proposal was still in its preliminary stages, he said, "and there's hardly anything to comment...
...Executives at three major U.S. defense contractors-General Dynamics, Boeing and Northrop-reluctantly confirmed that such a swap is indeed under consideration. TIME has learned that the initial overtures to the companies were made in letters from General Hassan Toufanian, Iran's Vice Minister of War, after the barter proposal had been cleared by the U.S. departments of Defense, State and Treasury. The military equipment that would be bartered includes General Dynamics' F-16 fighters, McDonnell Douglas/Northrop's F-18s and Boeing's electronics-jammed Airborne Warning and Control System (a sort of flying command center...
...barter arrangement makes eminently good sense for the Iranians. Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi has ordered $12 billion worth of military equipment from manufacturers in the U.S. and Europe. Despite the nation's vast oil wealth, it is having cash-flow problems. It will post a $2.4 billion budget deficit this year, mainly because world demand for oil remains well below expectations. Bartering would thus allow Iran to employ its excess oil production capacity and use the crude instead of cash to pay for the planes...
Officials at oil companies that now deal with Iran have mixed reactions to the barter proposal. Says an executive at Standard Oil of California: "The Iranian government has been pressing the members of the Iranian oil consortium recently to accept more oil. This could take the pressure off us." But another oilman at Standard of Indiana disagrees: "We are now in delicate negotiations with the Iranians. Their crude is overpriced, and we are unwilling to accept their terms. Now along comes the U.S. Government, which says it will [go along with a barter deal]. We are shocked...
With 14 million blacks eligible to vote (about half of them are registered), black leaders this year are determined to barter their influence with this sizable bloc for increased influence on Democratic Party policy. That task has been made considerably more difficult by the fact that, at an unexpectedly early date, Georgia's Jimmy Carter is virtually the only Democratic candidate left with whom to strike a bargain. Many blacks who had counted on Hubert Humphrey to serve as a rallying point were left stunned by his refusal to join the race. California Congressman Ron Dellums said: "We should...