Absent from the list is Iran, prompting a Platts colleague to suggest that the US was "pathetic" for at least not acknowledging the offer from its long-time adversary.
General Rostam Qasemi, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said that if formally asked, Iran could send experts from the IRGC's Khatam al-Anbiya construction arm to contain the spill.
"Following the failure of the United States and (BP) to end the oil spill, experts of Khatam al-Anbiya are ready for management of the catastrophe," Quasemi is quoted as saying. "It is humilating that the US, Britain and those who claim they are ecomomic and industrial superpowers have failed to curb (the) oil leak after two months."
If the US, Britain and Western corporations "think they will not succeed in controlling (the spill) and if (they) ask Iran for help, we can station our experts to the location to end the environmental disaster," he is quoted as saying, a boast that goes well beyond the offers of booms and skimmers from the 27 countries.
But while Iran has experience in managing massive oil leaks in the Persian Gulf, according to Quasemi, there is no record of it (or anyone for that matter), controlling a well blowout on the ocean floor one mile beneath the surface.
In any event, the IRGC and Khatam al-Anbiya are on the US list of sanctioned Iranian entities for their role in Iran's missile program.
A formal request for help from the US assuredly is not in the mail.
