Originally Posted by New York Post

April 23, 2006 -- HE'S got oil, he's close to getting his coveted nukes, and he's confident the Almighty is on his side.

So what's Iran's president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad up to now?

Well, in case you didn't happen to be listening to Iranian state radio this week, Ahmadinejad is proposing a jihad on the way oil is priced around the world. Pay attention: This guy may be crazy - but if so, he's crazy like a fox.

Not content to quietly count Iran's multibillion-dollar petrol bonanza and terrorize the world with his nuclear ambitions, this week the Iranian leader urged OPEC to adopt a policy whereby industrial countries would pay the "real price of oil."

You see, as Ahmadinejad explained, even at a record $75 a barrel, crude is priced well below its "true value." Iranian lawmakers have said $100 a barrel or more is more like it.

Meantime, he says OPEC should set aside a quota "for poor consumers with better prices." If the Tyrant of Tehran gets his way, Americans will be longing for $3-a-gallon gas.

This isn't the first time the Iranian leader cooked up plans to disrupt the global oil markets without pulling a single barrel of production or even alluding to an oil embargo.

Several months ago, he suggested that OPEC start selling its oil for euros rather than dollars - a move that might not only destabilize the greenback but drive down demand for Uncle Sam's IOUs.

And why not? The leadership in Tehran is laughing all the way to the bank as the country finds itself in the enviable position of being able to directly cash in on the fear and chaos it whips up in world markets.

Which brings us to China. As China's President Hu Jintao was greeted with a 21-gun salute on the South Lawn of the White House, China became the world's fourth-largest economy (supplanting Great Britain). It is now second only to the U.S. in the amount of oil it imports - and about 15 percent of that oil comes from Iran.

What's more, Chinese demand is expected to double by 2009.

So what is Congress going to do about $75-a-barrel oil? Well, the Democrats are apparently going to take a page from the Iranians.

On Thursday, the Iranian oil minister was quick to blame the rising price of fuel on a shortage of gasoline in the U.S. and not on world markets.

Blame Big Oil, blame the U.S. refiners. It's right out of the Democrats' mid-term election play book - and no doubt it makes for good sound bites.

Too bad it will go a long way toward playing into the Iranian dictator's hands and do nothing to help out U.S. motorists this summer.