AP Photo

The hand-wringing public angst of politicians and pundits alike contemplating Israeli military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities is overblown, and for two reasons. Firstly, Iran’s neighbours in the Middle East are fast-revealing where their true loyalties lie – and it isn’t with Tehran – and secondly, Iran’s oil power is already declining. Speaking at the biennial International Energy Forum conference in Kuwait in mid-March, Saudi oil minister Ali Al Naimi offered this commitment over Iranian oil exports: “Saudi Arabia and others remain poised to make good the shortfall, perceived or real, in crude oil supply.”