A cynic might look at events in the Middle East between Iran and Israel and Iran and the United States, and ask the questions the ancient Romans asked when there was trouble in the empire: Cui bono? Who benefits? Given that Iran started and has the power to end the belligerent climate in the region by giving up its nuclear enrichment program, one could postulate that it has all the cards. Since it holds those cards, a cynic might argue Iran's calculation could be to drive the world a little crazy, reap the benefit of rising oil prices, and when everyone is on the verge of taking action, back off.

I'm not saying this is what Iran is doing. Not by a long shot. But I am saying that Iran has a history of roiling the waters for no apparent reason and then benefit from higher prices for its oil. In 2007, it sent out $50,000 rubber speed boats to harass America's $4.5 billion nuclear aircraft carriers in the Straits of Hormuz. Because people theorized Iran's rubber boats could be carrying missiles, oil prices spiked. Then the rubber boats went away.

Today, at plus-or-minus $110 a barrel, oil prices are roughly $77 a barrel higher than they were in 2003, when the war in Iraq began. Translate that into revenue and you see the world's oil producing countries, of which Iran is number four, behind Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States, are earning something like $4 to $5 billion a day more than in 2003, when oil sold for $33 a barrel. Iran's share of that loot is roughly $300 million a day. Creating tensions certainly has its rewards.

To be sure, some of that increase in oil prices has to do with the fact that China and India are importing a lot more oil now than they were in 2003. But the United States -- the world largest oil consumer -- is importing much less oil today than in 2003, and is actually using less oil as well. In 2003, the U.S. imported about 60 percent of its oil; today it imports only about 45 percent. Overall, oil demand and supply in 2012 are about the same as in 2003. And yet, prices have skyrocketed. Tensions caused those prices to rise.

For an extra $300 million a day, a cynic might argue, it's not inconceivable that an arrogant little nation, thinking it held all the cards, might risk throwing sand in two more powerful nations' eyes, knowing that when it stopped, the more powerful nations would simply walk away. An arrogant little nation, once the giant is gone, might resume kicking up the sand to keep tensions and prices high. Rubber speedboats and nuclear enrichment could just be different forms of sand.

It's foolhardy to think that when a country mounts an effort to enrich uranium to weapons grade it is doing it just to raise oil prices. It is a threat that must be taken seriously, and blocked.

And yet, whether its nuclear program is an elaborate ruse or something far more dangerous, Iran benefits. If it enriches its uranium to the point where it can be used to make a bomb, it gains strategic advantage and upsets the region's balance of power. And if it merely threatens to enrich all the way to 90 percent, but secretly plans to stop, it benefits from higher oil prices.

The ancient Romans and Iran's forebears, the Persians and their allies, battled each other for 700 years, from 92 BCE to about 650 CE. In the end, the Romans and Persians were exhausted by the conflict. Persia's tactics included attacks and feints and time-wasting diplomatic actions that always led nowhere. The point is, Iran is not new to the game it's playing. But the United States is.

So how does one stop such a practiced nation as Iran? There is only one way. Stop using the product that grants Iran its strength. Stop using oil. Take away Iran's benefit.