Santorum is stoking fears of Iran (a nation which poses no existential threat to the US)… the mean & evil “other” to go along with the allegedly (in the eyes of many Republican primary voters) moslem President Obama.

BTW, Santorum ought to be running on increasing the price of gasoline, because that is what he’s doing:

Oil Rises Almost $3 a Barrel on Iran Report

Oil climbed after Reuters reported Iranian oil exports will drop by 300,000 barrels a day this month because of tighter sanctions.

Futures gained 1.4 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier spiking more than 2 percent in three minutes, following the report, which cited Petrologistics, a Geneva-based consulting company. Stephen Schork, president of the Schork Group in Villanova, Pennsylvania, said the gain may have triggered traders’ automatic buy orders.

“The Reuters item came out at the same time we spiked,” said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC, a New York- based hedge fund that focuses on energy. “It doesn’t look like much, but it’s a reminder that the tensions will probably only increase. If there is a cutoff of Iranian oil, the Saudis will have a hard time making up for the lost supply.”

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