Gas Lines in Iran

Iran, which among other things is a member of OPEC and an exporter of oil, has found itself with a gasoline shortage. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary government has imposed gas rationing of twenty six gallons a month. The irony could not be more delicious.

The fall of the Shah and the resulting chaos that ensued were causes of the last energy crisis of the late 1970s. This situation was exacerbated by the fact that the price of oil was controlled by the government, a hangover from Nixon Administration policies, and of course the epic incompetence of the Carter Administration.

Now the Iranians, already groaning under the oppression of the mullahcracy, are sitting in gas lines and they don't like it one bit. At least two gas stations have already been set to the torch and rioting has been reported in Tehran. As I recall, all we Americans did was to suck it up and spin dark conspiracy theories of oil company cabals.

The sudden gas shortage in Iran has several causes. Economic sanctions, imposed because of Iran's desire to possess nuclear weapons, may well just be beginning to bite. Iran, while it produces a lot of crude oil, lacks the refinery capacity to convert it to useful product, such as gasoline, so it is compelled to import refined gasoline. The Iranian government subsidies the price of oil to the tune of seventy five cents a gallon, a price that has not been seen in the United States in over twenty years if not more.

Probably another contributing factor is corruption and skimming at the highest level of government. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary government is notorious for tolerating graft, even while preaching Koranic virtue to the populace at large.

The rationing has so far not been administered very well. Iranians are supposed to receive "smart cards" which will allow them to purchase rationed gasoline. But problems with distribution have left many Iranians without the smart cards and without the means to buy gasoline at all.

There have been some reports that the rioting has spread to other cities. Banks and government run super markets have been ransacked by angry mobs. Security forces have so far been hard pressed to restore order.

One solution, being floated in the Iranian Parliament, would decontrol the price of gasoline and allow it to float upwards to its market value, thus discouraging consumption. Iranian ruler Ahmadinejad has so far shown no enthusiasm for the idea since it would run contrary to his populist platform and would likely make his government more unpopular that it already is.

Some analysts hope that this Iranian gasoline crisis may herald the beginning of the end of the Iranian mullahcracy. About eighty percent of the Iranian people, according to most experts, would like to see the current regime replaced by a secular, democratic government. Iran has been rocked by protests before, led mainly by students. But so far these uprisings have been crushed by Iranian security forces, including the dreaded Revolutionary Guards. Whether this latest crisis will be controlled or will spiral out of control remains to be seen.