Petrol rationing in Iran

by Gareth Smith August 1, 2007

written by Gareth Smith August 1, 2007

With Iranians’ view of unlimited cheap petrol as a birthright, rationing was never going to be easy. But the need for change grew as years of a pump price frozen at 9 cents a liter took the import bill to $5 billion with Iran’s refineries way behind increasing consumption. Finally, the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bit the bullet, first with a price hike to 12 cents a liter and then with the introduction on June 27 of a ration of 100 liters a month per motorist. The torching of some petrol stations in protest made great television but has obscured, at least internationally, the palpable fact that the policy is beginning to work. Anecdotal evidence is clear. Tehran’s streets are less congested and the air quality improved. Hoteliers on the Caspian Sea coast complain of a lack of summer guests. “We’re struggling to get petrol for our tour buses,” said

2007 iran Petrol

Gareth Smith

Gareth Smith was a distinguished journalist who reported from the Middle East for over two decades. He served as the Financial Times correspondent in Tehran, where he was the chief Iran correspondent from 2003, following his earlier role as Lebanon correspondent. Throughout his career, Smith covered Middle Eastern affairs for leading media outlets, including The Financial Times, The Guardian, and the BBC. He also contributed as an editor to Executive magazine. His work as a freelance journalist in the 1990s, focusing on the politics of Iran and Iraq, paved the way for his appointment at the FT. In 2009, he relocated to the west coast of Ireland, where he balanced freelance journalism with his passion for nature and the land.

Petrol rationing in Iran

You may also like