Saddam’s Euro Oil Challenge

In the late 2000s, Saddam Hussein made a move so bold it shook the West. He stopped selling

Iraq’s oil in U.S. dollars and switched to euros instead. Saddam wanted to

strengthen Iraq’s economy and break its dependence on the U.S. dollar.

To step outside a system that controlled more than trade, it controlled power. And it worked.

Iraq’s oil profits skyrocketed by hundreds of millions. This wasn’t just business.

This was defiance. Saddam had dared to challenge the world’s most powerful currency

the petrodollar. The very system that keeps global demand for the U.S. dollar alive.

And history moved fast after that. Just three years later, the United States