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Riots in Iran Following Petrol Rationing

 
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 10:56 am    Post subject: Riots in Iran Following Petrol Rationing Reply with quote

1- Video Clip Breaking News Tehran Pars Riots: Angry Iranian Youth Torch Gas Stations

2- Video Clip Breaking News Riots In Tehran: Angry Iranians Torch Gas Stations

3- Photo Gallery: Sparks Of New Anti Mullahs Iranian Revolution and Riots In Tehran As Angry Iranians Torch Gas Stations

4- SPARKS OF REVOLUTION - IRAN GAS STATIONS #1: UPRISING

5- Video Clip: In Iran A Beautiful Brave Persian Girl Is Beating a Muslim Woman For Insulting Her

6- Slide Show Video Clip With Parsi Song- Why Iranians Despise Evil Islamic Regime

7- Video Clip Parsi - The Message From King Of Kings Yazgard Third To Omar Taazi (from 1400 years ago)

Quote:

Riots in Iran Following Petrol Rationing
June 27, 2007
Telegraph
Ben Quinn



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/27/wiran127.xml

Angry Iranians have torched petrol stations in protests against the sudden imposition of fuel rationing in one of the world’s most oil rich nations. The rationing was announced on Tuesday only three hours before it was due to begin at midnight, leading to long queues at service stations as Iranians rushed out to fill up before the clampdown kicked in.

In the capital, youths set a car and petrol pumps ablaze at a station in the residential Pounak area of northwestern Tehran, throwing stones and shouting angry slogans denouncing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who came to power in an election based largely on his promises to improve the Islamic republic’s faltering economy.

He has been facing growing criticisms over his economic policies, which a group of economists claimed earlier this month were fuelling inflation and hurting the poor.

The Iranian government had been planning for weeks to implement rationing, which was supposed to begin May 21, but has repeatedly held off from making the move.

In a country where citizens are used to having cheap and plentiful gas the issue is a sensitive one.

Lines of more than a half a mile long snaked out of some stations in Tehran, while riot police were in some streets to disperse the demonstrators.

Iran has to import more than 50 percent of its petrol needs because of its low refining capability, despite being the second biggest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

To make matters worse, consumers are being forced to use smart cards to keep track of their purchases but problems in distributing the cards have delayed implementation of the plan, while pumping petrol into vehicles is only possible when the smart card is inserted into the pumping machine.

Petrol sales have been subsidised by the government in an attempt to keep prices low.

Under the new rationing system, owners of private cars can buy only 100 litres (26 gallons) per month at the subsidised price of 1,000 Rials per litre (£0.19) while taxi-owners can purchase 800 litres (211 gallons) a month.

Unrest on the streets has also been played out politically in Iran’s parliament, where conservatives have been pushing for higher petrol prices in the hope of cutting back on demand in order to allow for money to be invested in the oil and gas production sector.

President Ahmadinejad has been resisting allowing increases because of his campaign promises to share Iran’s oil wealth with lower income groups and has also fought off efforts by parliament to reverse a 2005 decision to suspend a law stating that petrol prices must increase 10 percent every year.

However, he has been repeatedly criticised by the Iranian press for stoking already high inflation with high spending and promising lavish local investment projects on visits to the country’s regions.


Last edited by cyrus on Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:57 pm; edited 19 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 11:13 am    Post subject: Protesters torch Iran gas stations Reply with quote

Protesters torch Iran gas stations


http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/06/27/iran.fuel.ap/index.html


TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Two gas stations were torched early Wednesday in Tehran as angry Iranians protested fuel rationing measures suddenly enforced by the government, while many other Iranians lined up to fill their tanks.

There was no official confirmation Wednesday linking the two gas stations that could be seen burning in Tehran to the protests against the rationing, announced late Tuesday by the Oil Ministry. The measure sparked long lines at stations as Iranians tried to get one last fill-up before the limitations kicked in.

State radio reported early Wednesday that several stations were attacked "by vandals," without giving further details. State-run television also said some of the vandals were detained. It did not give number of the detained people.

Reports that gas stations in several cities across the country were also in flames could not be independently confirmed.

People were still forming lines at gas stations on Wednesday, though lines had shortened compared to the previous evening.

"I could not fill my car last night because of the rush. Now I have come to experience my first quota," said Hassan Riahi, a 21-year-old engineering student, as he waited at a Tehran gas station guarded by four police officers.

Iran is the second biggest exporter in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But because it has low refining capability, it has to import more than 50 percent of its gasoline needs. To keep prices low, the government subsidized gas sales, saddling it with enormous costs.

The government had been planning for weeks to implement rationing, which was supposed to begin May 21 but was repeatedly put off. In May, the government reduced subsidies for gas, causing a 25 percent jump in the price.

The issue is hugely sensitive in this oil-rich nation, where people are used to having cheap and plentiful gas. Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 election based largely on his promises to improve the faltering economy. But his failure to do so has sparked widespread criticism.

"This man, Ahmadinejad, has damaged all things. The timing of the rationing is just one case," said Reza Khorrami, a 27-year-old teacher who was among those lining up at one Tehran gas station before midnight on Tuesday.

Some stations in Tehran had lines more than a half mile long. Minutes before midnight, car owners still caught in the long lines began blaring their horns over and over in protest -- sparking arguments with nearby residents trying to sleep.

"Is this good timing, to announce rationing only three hours before it starts?" complained Ahmad Safai, a 30-year-old shopkeeper who was in line. "I had no gas in my car's tank when I heard the report."

Under the rationing plan, owners of private cars can buy 26 gallons of fuel per month at the subsidized price of 38 cents per gallon. Taxis can get 211 gallons a month at the subsidized price.

Conservatives in Iran's parliament, especially those aligned with the country's national oil company, have long pushed for higher gasoline prices with the hope of curtailing demand and freeing up government spending to invest in more oil and gas production.

Still, Ahmadinejad had resisted allowing increases because of his campaign promises to share Iran 's oil wealth with the nation's poor. Iran has a law that says gasoline prices must increase 10 percent every year, but the president has resisted efforts by parliament to reverse a 2005 decision to suspend the annual increases.

By 2014, Iran wants to raise its oil production capacity to 5.3 million barrels a day, from the current 4.3 million barrels, and natural gas from 560 million cubic meters a day to 1.5 billion cubic meters, Iranian Minister of Petroleum Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said recently.

" Iran would need $93 billion in foreign investment and more than $43 billion in domestic financial resources by 2014. The country cannot meet that level of investment and technology needs on its own," he said at an oil-and-gas conference earlier this month in Malaysia .

In addition, Iran needs another $12 billion investment to raise its refining capacity from 1.625 million barrels a day to 2.94 million barrels in the next 5 years, he said.

Video: http://sarbazevatan.multiply.com/video/item/61
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 2:37 pm    Post subject: Angry protests erupt in Iran over petrol rationing Reply with quote

Angry protests erupt in Iran over petrol rationing

by Pierre Celerier
2 hours, 19 minutes ago
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070627/wl_mideast_afp/iraneconomyunrestoil_070627155854


TEHRAN (AFP) - Angry demonstrators torched petrol stations and long queues formed at heavily-guarded fuel pumps Wednesday after oil-rich Iran announced the start of fuel rationing, triggering nationwide protests.

Motorists trying to stock up on fuel clashed with armed police after the surprise announcement rationing would take effect from midnight Tuesday, with some shouting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

It is the first such open outpouring of anger since Ahmadinejad took office in 2005, although criticism has mounted in some economic circles that his policies were fuelling inflation and hurting the poor.

Tehran fire service spokesman Behrouz Tashakor said the city's firefighting teams had reported 12 petrol stations ablaze, according to the Fars news agency.

Iran, OPEC's number two oil producer and the fourth in the world, announced on Tuesday that rationing aimed at reducing colossal state petrol subsidies and massive consumption would extend to private cars and taxis.

Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said the government was considering whether an extra quota could be introduced in two months to be sold without subsidies that keep prices at 10 cents a litre, among the lowest in the world.

But against the backdrop of violence, some reformist and moderate lawmakers were pushing for legislation to halt the plan altogether.

Long queues of cars, some several kilometres (miles) long, snaked from petrol stations in Tehran and across the country as armed police stood guard. In some areas, people turned up with buckets to fill up with fuel.

"One day the government says rationing has been postponed, the next they say they are going ahead with it, that explains the long queues and violence," said one petrol station manager, identifying himself only as Ghanei.

State television gave the announcement just a few hours before it came into force at midnight.

It said private cars using petrol would be limited to 100 litres of petrol a month while those using petrol and liquefied gas would only be allowed 30 litres. The rationing would continue for four months and might be extended to six months.

Separate higher quotas have been introduced for municipal yellow taxis and privately-run taxis, both essential means of transport.

"Ahmadinejad is a big liar," said Reza Ahamdi, a taxi driver. "Do these people come and wait in line like us?"

Iran has about seven million mostly ageing, fuel-inefficient cars, more than a million of them clogging the roads in Tehran where an official once described the level of pollution as "collective suicide."

Cheap prices have encouraged such consumption that the government had to spend five billion dollars importing petrol in the last financial year ended March.

Its refining capacity covers only 60 percent of its needs, while smugglers also take cheap petrol out of the country to neighbouring states where pump prices are far higher.

Iran launched the first phase of the rationing plan two weeks ago, initially targeting only government vehicles.

Last month, it also raised pump prices by 25 percent, to around 10 cents per litre, for a commodity that still costs less than a comparable amount of mineral water.

Iran estimates that without rationing, fuel imports could reach 9.5 billion dollars a year. It produces 44.5 million litres of petrol a day but consumption is 79 million.

Under Tuesday's plan, the maximum amount of petrol allowed in total for the four-month period is 400 litres for petrol-burning cars and 120 litres for those which consume both liquefied gas and petrol.

Ahmadinejad has been criticised by the reformist press for stoking already high inflation with high spending and promising lavish local investment projects.

Earlier this month, more than 50 economists wrote an open letter warning Ahmadinejad about the effects of his economic policies on society.

However the president, who was elected on a platform of distributing the country's riches more evenly, insists inflation is under control and that the government is doing all it can to reduce poverty.

The central bank has predicted inflation will rise to 17 percent in the year to March 2008 and some economists expect it could be even higher.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 7:12 pm    Post subject: Drivers Riot as Oil-rich Iran Rations Petrol Reply with quote

Quote:
Drivers Riot as Oil-rich Iran Rations Petrol

June 28, 2007
The Times
Michael Theodoulou

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article1996431.ece

Iranian motorists set light to petrol stations across Tehran yesterday after the Government imposed fuel rationing with just three hours’ notice. The protests marked the first outpouring of anger since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the populist President, was swept to power two years ago promising to put the country’s “oil income on people’s tables”.

In one part of the sprawling capital of 12 million, angry youths pelted police with stones and chanted: “Guns, fireworks, tanks, Ahmadinejad should be killed.”

“This man, Ahmadinejad, has damaged all things,” said Reza Khorrami, a 27-year-old teacher, as he queued for fuel at a petrol station guarded by baton-wielding police.

The rationing in Iran is the most controversial economic measure since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and spells trouble for the President.

Despite high oil prices on world markets Mr Ahmadinejad, the son of a blacksmith who portrays himself as a champion of the working man, has failed to raise living standards. Inflation has surged and unemployment has increased.

Iran is one of the world’s biggest producers of crude oil but depends heavily on imported petrol because it lacks refining capacity. In addition, petrol is heavily subsidised by the State, selling at 5½p a litre. Even after a recent 25 per cent increase it is the cheapest in the world. Thousands of gallons of petrol have been smuggled to Iran’s neighbours where prices are higher.

The combination of costly imports and high subsidies has left the Government with a huge deficit, affecting the provision of public services. Last year the Iranian parliament allocated $2.5 billion (£1.25billion) for petrol imports but spent a total of $5 billion.

The regime will be concerned that yesterday’s spontaneous unrest could serve as a catalyst for wider protests over a host of other economic, political and social dissatisfactions.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s Government is in the middle of one of the most ferocious crackdowns on dissent in years. Since April thousands of young Iranians have been detained for “immoral behaviour” as the Islamic dress code is enforced.

There has also been a campaign to purge universities of liberal ideas in what some analysts have described as a second cultural revolution. The regime’s recent strong-arm tactics should help to contain unrest over petrol rationing. Gary Sick, an Iran expert at Columbia University in New York, said: “They [the regime] know opposition is there and they’ve prepared the way, to minimise the chance of a backlash.”

Under rationing, owners of private cars can buy 100 litres of petrol a month at the subsidised price of 1,000 riyals (5½p) a litre.

But the daily quota of three litres is a paltry amount in a city as huge as Tehran which has poor public transport. Rationing is to continue for four months and may be extended, the Government said.

Taxis will be allowed 800 litres a month at the subsidised price. It is expected that motorists will be able to buy petrol above their ration at more realistic prices. All petrol is sold using electronic “smart” cards, but some drivers have not received them.

Demand for petrol in Iran is growing by 11 per cent a year, compounded by a huge boom in car sales and wastefulness encourgaged by low prices. Iran’s 8.5 million cars, many of them fuel-inefficient Peykans, which are based on the extinct and inefficient British Hillman Hunter, consume around the same amount of petrol as the 35 million cars on British roads.


1- Video Clip Breaking News Tehran Pars Riots: Angry Iranian Youth Torch Gas Stations

2- Video Clip Breaking News Riots In Tehran: Angry Iranians Torch Gas Stations

3- Photo Gallery: Sparks Of New Anti Mullahs Iranian Revolution and Riots In Tehran As Angry Iranians Torch Gas Stations

4- SPARKS OF REVOLUTION - IRAN GAS STATIONS #1: UPRISING


Last edited by cyrus on Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:04 pm; edited 2 times in total
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 8:54 pm    Post subject: In Iran A Beautiful Persian Girl Is Beating a Muslim Woman F Reply with quote

Video Clip: In Iran A Beautiful Brave Persian Girl Is Beating a Muslim Woman For Insulting Her
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:49 pm    Post subject: Petrol rationing sparks outrage in Iran Reply with quote

Petrol rationing sparks outrage in Iran
Posted 5 hours 7 minutes ago
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/28/1964078.htm?section=justin

Reports from Iran say 12 petrol stations have been set on fire in Tehran and five more damaged in protest against the decision to introduce petrol rationing.

Police have been posted at every petrol station as tempers fray to ensure fights do not break out as some motorists try to jump the queue.

Several petrol stations and cars were set on fire or vandalised and a supermarket and a bank also attacked in Tehran.

People shouted slogans against President Mahmood Ahmadinejad, the man who promised to put Iran's oil wealth on the dinner tables of the people.

Now Iranians find they cannot get fuel and they fear rationing will push food prices even higher.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 27, 2007 9:51 pm    Post subject: Gas stations set ablaze as Iran begins rationing Reply with quote

Gas stations set ablaze as Iran begins rationing
By Nazila Fathi
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/27/news/iran.php

Wednesday, June 27, 2007
TEHRAN: Angry drivers set fire to some gasoline stations here after the government announced that fuel would be rationed beginning Wednesday.

The government first planned to start the rationing a year ago, but put the decision off repeatedly out of fear that it would lead to unrest. The plan was announced only a few hours before it took effect. State television reported Wednesday that "several gas stations and public places had been attacked by vandals."

Traffic jams developed near some gasoline stations as police officers worked to control long lines.

The new rules limit drivers of private cars to 100 liters, or 26 gallons, every month at the subsidized price per liter of 1,000 rials, or 10 cents. Taxicab drivers are limited to 800 liters a month.

The government is still considering whether to allow drivers to buy additional fuel at higher prices.

Iran is rich with crude oil and is the second largest exporter in OPEC. But it has far fewer refineries than it needs to satisfy booming domestic demand, so it must import as much as half its gasoline from refineries abroad, at a cost of $5 billion a year.

Analysts warned that rationing would make it difficult for unemployed people who used their private cars as taxis to earn a living and that it could accelerate inflation, which is already a problem.

Prices of dairy products like milk, butter and yogurt have risen by 20 percent or more this week.

The economy could also be pinched by new sanctions being debated by the UN Security Council over Iran's refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program.

The minister of oil and the minister of intelligence met privately with members of Parliament to discuss the effects of the decision to ration gasoline.

Afterward, the speaker of Parliament, Gholamali Hadad Adel, told reporters that it would back the government.

"The rationing can help reduce the consumption," Adel said, according to Parliament's Web site. "It can also make us more independent and become less vulnerable in the international community."
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 3:19 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I think it can be safely said that "Utopia" is up in smoke.
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 6:30 pm    Post subject: Iran bans negative petrol stories Reply with quote

BBC NEWS wrote:
Iran bans negative petrol stories

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/middle_east/6249222.stm
Iran's top security body has ordered local journalists not to report on problems caused by petrol rationing, a day after its surprise introduction.
Angry motorists have reacted violently to the curbs, attacking up to 19 petrol stations in the capital, Tehran.

There are still long queues outside filling stations.

The authorities switched off the mobile text messaging system in Tehran overnight to prevent motorists from organising more protests.

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran said that many Iranians are already on edge because of a recent sharp rise in the cost of living.

During Wednesday's unrest, motorists threw stones and shouted slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Despite the ban on negative reporting by Iran's security council, reformist papers are still complained about the abrupt way in which it was announced, saying even the police chief and the petrol station owners were not aware of the move.

Confusion

Hardline papers have advised motorists not to use their personal cars too much and to share vehicles in order to save petrol.

Iranian TV initially did not mention the unrest and mostly interviewed people who said they supported the rationing.

Although the daily allowance is just over three litres, motorists can take their whole month's allowance of 100 litres in one go.

This has caused confusion with some drivers who wrongly believed that the rationing had not started yet and rushing to fill up their tanks, our correspondent says.

She says the government is trying to rein in fuel consumption over fears of possible UN sanctions over its nuclear programme.

Despite its huge energy reserves, Iran lacks refining capacity and it imports about 40% of its petrol.

The country has a large budget deficit largely caused by fuel subsidies and the inflation rate is estimated at 20-30%.




Reuters wrote:
Iran Oil Exports at Risk in UK Ship Sanctions Plan

June 26, 2007
Reuters
Stefano Ambrogi
http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL269674.html


LONDON -- A British proposal to target Iran's national shipping lines under a draft U.N. sanctions resolution could temporarily curb Tehran's ability to export oil to world markets, maritime sources said on Tuesday.

The confidential draft, obtained by Reuters on Friday, suggests denying rights of passage to Iranian merchant ships in foreign waters. The withdrawal of landing rights for Iranian aircraft is also suggested.

The proposal would have countries "deny permission to take off from, land in or overfly their territories, or berth in or secure passage through their territorial waters, of all aircraft and vessels owned or controlled by Iranian airlines or shipping companies."

Under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention ships of all nations have the right of innocent passage through a country's territorial seas. U.N. member nations are bound to enforce Security Council resolutions once adopted.

Oil shipping sources said on Tuesday that, if adopted, the proposal could have a short-term effect on Iran's ability to supply oil to world markets, even though U.S. and European officials insist it is not meant to target Iran's oil.

"It's a question of logistics," said James Davis of Lloyd's Marine Intelligence Unit (LMIU) in London, a consultancy that tracks global oil tanker flows.

SHORT-TERM IMPACT

He said Iran could revert to the commercial shipping market to move its oil, thereby side-stepping the United Nations.

"Whether there is enough tanker capacity to cover it is another question, but I think we are looking at a short-term impact," he said.

The draft sanctions proposal is aimed at ratcheting up pressure on Iran for defying U.N. Security Council demands to halt uranium enrichment.

Iran says its goal is peaceful generation of electricity. The West fears the enrichment is aimed at producing a nuclear weapon.

Oil ship industry sources estimate that around 40 percent of Iran's crude oil exports are shipped on National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) vessels. An NITC official contacted by Reuters in Tehran declined to say how much the state-owned fleet carried.

Iran, OPEC's second largest producer, pumps 3.85 million barrels of crude a day and exports 2.4 million barrels of that on tankers by sea, with about 60 percent bound for Asia and the remainder shipped to Europe.

Washington has banned U.S. companies from lifting Iranian oil and investing in Iran since 1995.

"For 2007 we've observed under 40 percent of crude oil exports shipped on NITC vessels, mostly from Kharg Island in the Gulf," LMIU's Davis said.

One of the biggest oil tanker firms operating in the Gulf estimated the figure to be 42 percent of exports.

Davis said the remainder was moved by oil firms aboard their own supertanker fleets or aboard privately chartered vessels.

"The main lifters are Japanese, Indian, Chinese, South Korean. A small amount goes to southern Europe," he said.

A second proposal would target aircraft and vessels -- including those operated by the Islamic of Republic of Iran Shipping Line and Iran Air Cargo -- that traffic in goods banned under two previous U.N. resolutions.


The above news are proving opposition points that if G8 stop supporting the regime fragile economy, and apply real sanctions the regime will collapse due to heavy economy dependence on outside, G8 and internal corruptions. The Truth is that the regime change policy, Human Rights, Free Society and Secular Democracy was not on G8 agenda otherwise the IRI would not exist today.
The Iranian people must find their own way to burst Mullah Mafia Bubble that was supported by EU3 in past 28 years for cheap blood oil for Mafia like contracts… and don’t wait for any outside help, because the Free World leaders are very short sighted, don’t see the real danger of Islamist Mafia system and don’t support freedom and rights of people in oil producing countries and they are after behavior change not regime change…. The G8 don’t know that Islamist scorpion by its nature can not change behavior and Islamic Democracy is the biggest illusion.


Slide Show Video Clip With Parsi Song- Why Iranians Despise Evil Islamic Regime

Video Clip Parsi - The Message From King Of Kings Yazgard Third To Omar Taazi (from 1400 years ago)
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 28, 2007 8:53 pm    Post subject: Unrest Grows Amid Gas Rationing in Iran Reply with quote

New York Times wrote:
June 29, 2007
Unrest Grows Amid Gas Rationing in Iran
By NAZILA FATHI and JAD MOUAWAD
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/world/middleeast/29iran.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

TEHRAN, June 28 — Unrest spread in Tehran on Thursday, the second day of gasoline rationing in oil-rich Iran, with drivers lining up for miles, gas stations being set on fire and state-run banks and business centers coming under attack.

Dozens were arrested, and the Tehran police chief, Ismail Ahmadi Moghaddam, complained to reporters that the police had been caught unaware by the decision to ration fuel.

The anger posed a keen threat to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was elected two years ago on a platform of bringing income from oil to the nation’s households. Instead, even though Iran is one of the world’s largest producers of crude oil, it has been forced to import about 40 percent of its gasoline at an annual cost of $5 billion to make up for shortfalls in its archaic refining industry.

Some analysts said the decision to ration gasoline was intended to prepare for the possibility of more United Nations economic sanctions as a result of concern over Iran’s nuclear program.

Iran has defied a demand by the United Nations Security Council to suspend uranium enrichment activities, and the Council is debating whether to impose tougher sanctions. Iran contends that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

“Iran’s dependence on imported gasoline has been a focus of international debate over future sanctions,” according to the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultant. “Rationing will reduce Iran’s vulnerability, and Iran’s leadership explicitly mentioned this goal in commenting on the measure,” it said.

Saeed Leylaz, an economist and political analyst in Tehran, said, “The high gasoline consumption has made Iran very vulnerable, and this is a security decision now.”

“We are importing gasoline from 16 different countries,” he said. “The country would be on the verge of collapse if they suddenly decide not to sell us gasoline. The government has to find a way to lower the consumption.”

In Washington on Thursday, leaders of a bipartisan House panel, led by Representative Mark Steven Kirk, Republican of Illinois, and Representative Robert E. Andrews, Democrat of New Jersey, proposed legislation intended to punish any company that provides Iran with gasoline or helps it import gasoline after Dec. 31. Such a company could lose its access to American customers through sanctions.

The Iranian government had planned for a year to ration gasoline but had postponed the move, fearing unrest. Iran offers the highest subsidies for gasoline in the region, buying foreign gasoline for slightly more than $2 a gallon, according to official figures, and offering it for 34 cents a gallon.

“Iran is in a bind,” said Vera de Ladoucette, an energy analyst with Cambridge Energy Research Associates in Paris. “They have acted too late and too harshly.”

According to Ms. de Ladoucette, Iran is also seeking to increase its gasoline production and has outlined plans to spend $18 billion by 2012 to increase its refining capacity by 1.5 million barrels a day from about 1.6 million. The government’s plan is to build four refineries and expand older ones. But, she added, it is unlikely to achieve that goal by 2012. “The problem will be financing all this,” she said.

Parliament voted last month to increase the price of gasoline to 64 cents a gallon. It said that its studies showed that the move would lead to a decline in the consumption. But Mr. Ahmadinejad rejected the proposal and decided to proceed with rationing.

The price of subsidized gasoline was raised by 25 percent last month. The new regulation allows private cars 26 gallons of gasoline a month for 34 cents a gallon. Taxis are allowed 211 gallons a month.

Despite a warning to the local news media to avoid reporting the unrest caused by rationing, newspapers continued to criticize the decision. The daily Etemad Melli wrote that public transportation had been insufficient to move stranded people on streets since Wednesday, when rationing took effect. “The question is if our dear officials enjoy or benefit from causing such unexpected difficulties,” it wrote.

Five gallons of gasoline has been selling for $15 in the black market in Zahedan, in the southeast, the daily Seday-e-Edalat reported.

The Web site Norouz reported that riots had erupted in Ilam on the eastern border and that people had attacked a gas station in Shiraz in the south.

Longstanding discount prices have encouraged gasoline consumption in Iran, where many people believe that the vast oil resources make cheap gasoline a basic right.

“There is no reason why we should pay the same price as people outside Iran do,” said Amir Aram, a carpenter in Tehran. “We have all this oil beneath our feet and have to wait for hours in line to get our ration.”

Some fear rationing could make inflation worse. Many people are dependent on their vehicles as a source of income, and many jobless people or low income government employees use their private cars as taxis.

Mr. Ahmadinejad is facing growing discontent over his economic policies and is being blamed for failing to deliver on his promises to improve the economy. He suffered a setback last December when he lost local elections, and he faces crucial parliamentary elections in March.

“The government will have to back down or face consequences,” said Ehsan Mohammadi, 32, who uses his motorcycle to work as a delivery man. “There are many people like me, and we cannot support our families with rationed gasoline.”

Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran and Jad Mouawad from New York.


1- Video Clip Breaking News Tehran Pars Riots: Angry Iranian Youth Torch Gas Stations

2- Video Clip Breaking News Riots In Tehran: Angry Iranians Torch Gas Stations

3- Photo Gallery: Sparks Of New Anti Mullahs Iranian Revolution and Riots In Tehran As Angry Iranians Torch Gas Stations

4- SPARKS OF REVOLUTION - IRAN GAS STATIONS #1: UPRISING

5- Video Clip: In Iran A Beautiful Brave Persian Girl Is Beating a Muslim Woman For Insulting Her

6- Slide Show Video Clip With Parsi Song- Why Iranians Despise Evil Islamic Regime

7- Video Clip Parsi - The Message From King Of Kings Yazgard Third To Omar Taazi (from 1400 years ago)
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 30, 2007 12:23 pm    Post subject: Enrich Oil, Not Uranium! Reply with quote

Quote:

Enrich Oil, Not Uranium!

June 30, 2007
Arab News
Amir Taheri

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=98039&d=30&m=6&y=2007

After nights of rioting, Tehran looks like a war-torn city dotted with charred carcasses of cars and buses and the still smoldering remains of gas stations. Security checkpoints are everywhere while heavily armed soldiers guard public edifices and government buildings.

The riots were provoked by a government decision to increase the price of gasoline (petrol) for private automobiles from four US cents to six.

It is against that background that a little known ayatollah of Qom, the Iranian “holy city,” issues a fatwa, calling for the “Islamic execution” of the man who took the decision to raise gasoline prices. A few months later, the fatwa is executed and the man condemned by the ayatollah is murdered by a five-man “Islamic” hit squad.

Those who have seen television footage of rioting in Tehran and dozens of other Iranian cities this week would find the above sketch familiar. The sketch, however, portrays what happened in 1964, when Prime Minister Hassan-Ali Mansour raised the price of gasoline, and was sentenced to death by Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa.

The uncanny similarity between the 1964 riots and those now shaking Iran is all the more significant because the very men who led those riots and later killed Mansour are now in power in Tehran in the framework of the Islamic republic. It is also telling that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took the decision to end gas subsidies and impose rationing, has used precisely the same arguments that Prime Minister Mansour did in his time.

Mansour had argued that it was absurd to sell gasoline at below production cost, especially at a time that Iran could not balance its government budget. The argument is even stronger today because the Islamic republic is importing more than 40 percent of the refined petroleum products it consumes.

If current consumption growth rates continue, by 2010 the Islamic republic would be spending almost half of its oil revenues on imported gasoline that is then sold in Iran at below-cost prices.

Are we witnessing one of those rare cases when history seems to be repeating itself?

Not necessarily. The Shah’s regime under which Mansour had become prime minister was of the type that politologues call “soft dictatorship”. It had no stomach for crushing street riots and dealing with opponents through mass executions. This is why it took only four days of rioting, in which Tehran University students joined striking workers, for the Mansour government to buckle under and restore the subsidies. All the 97 people arrested were released without charge and the government agreed to compensate those whose properties had been destroyed by the rioters.

The Khomeinist regime belongs to a different category, that of “hard dictatorships.” It has no qualms about crushing opponents with mass arrests and executions.

It has declared a state of emergency in Tehran and 21 other cities, and arrested large numbers of protestors. Thus, few analysts expect the current riots to force Ahmadinejad into a retreat.

And, yet, I have a feeling that Ahmadinejad would be forced into a retreat. There are several reasons why he might do so.

First, with elections for the Islamic Consultative Majlis (Parliament) just months away, many members might not wish to risk their seats by finalizing the president’s plan.

Elections in the Islamic republic have never been free in the sense that they are in democratic countries. Nevertheless, Islamic republic elections provide a framework for rival factions within the regime to compete for power.

As things stand today, factions opposed to Ahmadinejad, including some of his former allies, are trying to exploit the gasoline price issue as a theme with which to energize their support base within the Khomeinist movement. One faction led by Hashemi Rafsanjani, a businessman-mullah reputed to be the richest man in Iran, has denounced the gasoline rationing decision as “ill-timed and unnecessary.” Another faction, led by Mahdi Karrubi, another mullah with business interests, has extended its criticism to the whole of Ahmadinejad’s economic policy.

Secondly, the gasoline issue exposes some of the key contradictions of Ahmadinejad’s populist posture. Here is a man who travels around the country promising to put “the oil money on every family’s dinner table,” and yet is, in effect, withdrawing more than $4 billion in subsidies that help millions of poor Iranians.

Ahmadinejad is leading the country into what could be a long and dangerous conflict with the United Nations over the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions by describing uranium enrichment as a “ vital national priority.” And, yet, a country that has the world’s largest oil reserves and second biggest deposits of natural gas cannot meet the needs of its own people for refined petroleum products.

One of the slogans shouted in Tehran during this week’s riots put it neatly: “Enrich oil, not uranium!”

The absurdity of the situation becomes more apparent when Iranians recall that their country is being pushed toward war because Ahmadinejad wants to enrich uranium for nonexistent nuclear power stations. The first Iranian nuclear power station is scheduled to become operational toward the end of 2008. Even then, all the fuel it would need for 37 years after which it would have to be de-commissioned, is already guaranteed by Russia that is building it.

The Iranian market could quickly absorb an additional one million barrels of refined petroleum products each day. But there is no market for enriched uranium in Iran, unless, of course, the Islamic republic wants to produce nuclear weapons.

Ahmadinejad’s offer of selling Iranian enriched uranium to countries with nuclear power stations, including the US, might indicate his sense of humor. But it has angered many Iranians who have to spend hours in endless queues to secure a bucket of gasoline. The Islamic republic has spent an estimated .5 billion on its uranium enrichment program. As a group of Ahmadinejad’s critics pointed out in an open letter last month, with the money spent on uranium enrichment Iran could have built more than 60 oil refineries, catering for all of its needs in gasoline and other petroleum products.
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 02, 2007 8:01 pm    Post subject: Riots News In Farsi: Reply with quote

Riots News In Farsi:
http://www.niuc.eu/flash/benzin.html

_______________________________

Educational Video Clips For All Readers:

1- Battle Of Buffalo, Lions And Crocodiles In Kruger National Park (Leadership Lesson 1)

2- Video Clip Of Tehran Pars Riots: Angry Iranian Youth Torch Gas Stations (Leadership Lesson 2)

3- Video Clip: In Iran A Beautiful Brave Persian Girl Is Beating a Muslim Woman For Insulting Her (Leadership Lesson 3)

4- Watch Video Clip: How Big Are We When The Sun Become Just A Pixel In the Big Picture? (Leadership Lesson 4)
5- Watch Video Clip: I Am Only a Child (Leadership Lesson 5)

6- Watch Video Clip: Surfing An Amazing Wave (Leadership Lesson 6)
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 06, 2007 4:37 pm    Post subject: CHAVEZ VS. IRAN 'S WORKING MAN Reply with quote

Amir Taheri wrote:

CHAVEZ VS. IRAN 'S WORKING MAN
ALLIES WITH MULLAHS AGAINST THE POOR

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07062007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/chavez_vs__irans_working_man_opedcolumnists_amir_taheri.htm

Amir Taheri

Chavez: Betrays values of Simon Bolivar
July 6, 2007 -- I FIRST met Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's flamboyant president, after one of his earlier trips to Iran . With a few colleagues, we dined at an Italian restaurant in Paris .

The conversation touched on a range of topics, but two themes dominated. The first was his "determination" to end poverty in Venezuela . "There is no need for anyone to be poor in a country as rich as ours," he asserted as he sipped his Chateau Lafitte. "Give me four years, just give me four years!"

The second main theme was Chavez's claim that the Catholic Church, prompted by "wealthy oligarchs," was trying to sabotage his social revolution.

Chavez claimed to be the ideological heir of Simon Bolivar, the father of Latin American liberation from colonial rule, and recalled his hero's commitment to "secular government." Bolivar had said that while the individual was free to have whatever faith he wished, the state should have no religion. As for society, its sole religion should be freedom within the rule of law.

In that context, Chavez was particularly critical of the theocratic system established by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He said he admired the Iranian revolution and had fallen in love with Iran 's natural beauty and cultural richness - "ah, those roses in Isfahan !" - but was uneasy about the mullahs' attempts to impose their version of Islam on all Iranians.

Well, Chavez has had eight years - twice as much as he had demanded in that Paris restaurant.

Thanks to rising oil prices, Venezuela has garnered something like $180 billion net in oil export revenues. That income has been topped by $30 billion worth of government borrowing. That means a total of $210 billion, not taking into account the government's other revenues from taxes and custom duties.

Yet, under Chavez , Venezuela 's public debt (domestic and foreign) has risen from $21 to almost $47 billion. His own government's reports show a steady rise in the number of people below the poverty line. Despite a $5 billion bonanza from the seizure of foreign funds from the Venezuelan Central Bank, the government last year issued bonds worth $4 billion to cover a looming budget deficit.

What happened? What did Chavez do with the unprecedented wealth that came to Venezuela under his stewardship?

Part of the answer lies in the fact that Venezuela leads Latin America in capital flight. Over the last eight years, Venezuelans have transferred something like $70 billion to foreign (mostly American) banks. Chavez has also spent billions helping Cuba and distributing free or cut-price oil in several countries (including some U.S. areas). During his visit to Iran last week, he extended that generosity to the Islamic Republic by promising to supply cut-price gasoline to meet a shortage that has already caused riots throughout the country.

It's clear that, somewhere along his trajectory, Chavez decided to cast himself in the role of a "fighter against Yankee Imperialism." With that decision made, all other considerations became secondary. The elimination of poverty could wait for another day. As for Bolivar's philosophy, it could be twisted to suit the new "heroic discourse."

To be sure, Chavez has set up something he calls a "Bolivarian alliance" in Latin America . But the regimes he has managed to attract - Cuba , Nicaragua and Bolivia - are more anachronistic communist set-ups than Bolivarian constructs. (Indeed, the Islamic Republic has now joined the "Bolivarian" alliance - added proof that the exercise is more motivated by anti-Americanism than by genuine Bolivarian values.)

In his visit to the Islamic Republic, his sixth in eight years, Chavez set aside his Bolivarian flag. He went on Khomeini's tomb to pray for the bloodthirsty theocrat, under whose rule more than 1.5 million Iranians died in war and government repression. Chavez described the Khomeinist system as "political spirituality" and a model for mankind as a whole. He was especially enthusiastic in his praise of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who seems determined to push the Middle East into a new period of conflict.

If the Islamic Republic's state-owned media are to be believed, Chavez also endorsed Ahamdinejad's bid to become leader of the so-called nonaligned movement, and to head it into a new campaign aimed at "the destruction of the American Imperialism." "With you in the lead," Chavez said, "we shall defeat the United States and its allies wherever they are."

Ahmadinejad and Chavez traveled to southern Iran, where a giant petrochemical complex has been under construction for years. Walking hand-in-hand and exchanging sentimental phrases, the couple visited Asaluyeh - one of the most deprived areas of Iran 's poverty-stricken Deep South . There, Chavez spoke of " the toiling masses' right to a better life."

Yet part of his visit had been cancelled to avoid construction workers who've been on strike since April. (One grievance: They hadn't been paid for six months.) Several of their leaders have been arrested by the secret police and shipped to unknown destinations.

Asaluyeh workers are frequently beaten up by thugs working for government owned companies and their French partners. The majority of Asaluyeh's 60,000 workers are poverty-stricken individuals who have come from all over Iran to earn a living for families left behind - families they often are not allowed to visit for months on end.

A recent Shiraz University study described conditions at Asaluyeh sites as "akin to slave labour camps." The average six-day working week can run into 70 hours; most workers, hired on a daily basis, get no paid holidays at all. They live in overcrowded huts provided by employers, who charge up to half of the average wage as rent. Food and other necessities are also available only in company-owned shops, often at prices twice higher than the average in the province.

Bolivar insisted on the separation of religion and state and sided with the poor. He wanted Latin America to seek allies among the Western democracies, not the potentates of the Orient.

Bolivar wanted Latin America to compete with the United States by enhancing its own freedoms, improving its educational system, achieving economic growth, and developing its culture. He did not believe that seeking the destruction of he United States was a worthy goal for any sane person, let alone a nation.

Cheap and banal anti-Americanism, the last refuge of every scoundrel, does not a Bolivarian make. Chavez, a Bolivarian? The workers in Asaluyeh know better.

Iranian-born journalist Amir Taheri is based in Europe .
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