Iran rations petrol, filling stations torched

Private motorists have been rationed to 100 litres per month in Iran as the regime attempts to head off the effects of possible UN sanctions on its oil over the nuclear power situation. Apparently it’s not all fun in the theocracy.

Iran doesn’t refine a lot of its own petrol. Domestic petrol prices are subsidized, heavily, and the motorists pay about a fifth of the real cost. Iranians haven’t taken well to the idea, and large, annoyed, queues have formed as they try to stock up. Some violence has been reported, and at least three people are known to have died in one of the attacks on petrol stations. It’s an oddly clumsy move for a government which has been at great pains to emphasize its indifference to the outside world’s reactions to its policies. This move could also create a black market inside Iran, one of the many in a strongly prohibitive state which puts dogma before practical considerations. Iran has a roaring heroin trade, among other illegal businesses, and years of attempted enforcement seem to have just produced a more efficient black market. Now they have another commodity to work with.