PRIME NEWS POST
Just three days after the United States and Israel’s attack on Iran on February 28, 2026, oil prices on March 2, 2026, soared to nearly $80 per barrel. US mainstream media reports suggest prices could climb to $90 per barrel. Why are oil prices rising? To restore profits for major oil companies, which have seen their earnings eroded over the past decade.
But there is another, bigger goal: to revive the petrodollar regime – a system where paper dollars are printed to be lent to countries worldwide. Yet can this ailing petrodollar system truly be saved through war and higher oil prices? The international public appears to hold a different view, recognizing that global peace, peace in the Middle East, and peace between Palestine and Israel would be the grave of the paper-money printing petrodollar system.
The petrodollar has faced mounting pressure. The climate change movement has dealt a severe blow to oil and fossil fuels, pushing for replacement with renewable energy. Even as a fuel source, oil has been rejected by this new global movement since the Paris Agreement. Climate change advocates demand an end to oil extraction; financial and banking sectors funding such activities face penalties, while countries and companies trading oil are subject to hefty levies via carbon taxes. A gradual transition will be pursued through optimized use of natural gas, leading to full electrification.
While the new regime – set to replace fiat or printed paper money – still intends to retain oil as a fuel source, crude oil will be pushed out of the global system entirely. It will no longer serve as a currency anchor. The new currency anchor will not be shaped by conflict or war, nor will it be forged in the Middle East. Instead, it will be built on transparency, openness, and advancements in digitalization. It will be developed from the ground up, driven by an inclusive international community movement.
Intense pressure on the US Federal Reserve – the institution overseeing the petrodollar – is emerging from the digital world. Its supremacy as a money printer and currency issuer has been disrupted by developments brought about by new global powers. Paper money, created with little more than paper, ink, and printing machines, will be replaced by digital currency whose value is determined through democratic consensus among the international community via digital systems. The strongest and most significant pressure comes from the new global policy to abandon the US dollar as the world’s reserve and global trade currency, replacing it with cryptocurrency. This blow is devastating, undermining the dollar and exposing the Federal Reserve’s lack of real reserves.
Former US President Donald Trump has stated firmly that he will reclaim the Fed to be owned by the United States government. He aims to end private ownership of the world’s top financial organization, proposing to place the Fed under the authority of the US President – either under the Treasury Department or government treasury policy. The Fed’s repeated rejection of the President’s demands has sparked intense conflict between the two parties, which is now a source of global turmoil and upheaval.
The difference between past Middle East wars and those of today lies in their consequences. Previous conflicts solidified the petrodollar system and built the Federal Reserve’s supremacy. However, current wars will instead bring an end to the petrodollar system, clearing the way for a more transparent new regime. Though oil prices rise at the start of the conflict, the petrodollar’s global standing has already collapsed in the early stages of the war. This is the end of the road – a point of no return. So will the Fed and Indonesia’s central bank (BI) return to their roots? (Red)
