
: First off they could recognise Iraqu's responsibility in initiating the
: Iran/Iraq war. Providing technical assistance to Iran to get it's oil
: production back up to capacity would also be a smart move, at the moment 
: Iran is above it's OPEC ceiling. If they had extra capacity they would
: use it and bring down the oild price further which is in our interests.

I agree with most of what Phill says, except the point about it being in
our interests to bring down the oil price.  Consider that both the U.S.
and Great Britain have domestic sources to partly satisfy 
their energy needs.    Pricy OPEC oil impacts both Germany,
Japan and many other "industrial rivals" more than these two.  
In addition, the proceeds from the sale (especially by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait
U.A.E. etc) are disproportionately reinvested in the U.S. and G.B., 
propping up these economies and further providing an incentive 
to keep prices from falling too low.