[In Washington, Congress introduced a bill that would sanction any
company that provides Iran with gasoline, Middle East Newsline reported. House sponsors said the fuel riots
pointed to the vulnerability of the Ahmadinejad regime.]
"The question is if our dear officials enjoy or benefit from causing
such unexpected difficulties?" the Iranian daily Etemad Melli asked.
The government has deployed tens of thousands of police and security
forces in Iranian cities to quell the violence. For the first time, Iranian
protesters denounced Ahmadinejad, elected in 2005.
"Paying around $10 billion from the oil stabilization fund to compensate
for the cost of importing oil in the past two years and then submitting to
gasoline rationing is the mistake," former Iranian parliamentarian Hossein
Marashi said.
Deputy Oil Minister Mohammed Reza Nematzadeh pledged that the rationing
system would be reviewed periodically. The Oil Ministry has determined that
fuel rationing would save $9.5 billion per year.
"Gasoline rationing for private cars needs to be increased in the next
six months," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee,
said. "This issue should be reviewed by experts and adjusted based on the
realities in Iran."
Iranian fuel consumption exceeds gasoline production by 75 percent. For
years, Iran, which imports fuel from 16 countries, has heavily subsidized
gasoline while parliament rejected government attempts to raise prices.
"If this parliament had not frozen the annual price hike for petrol we
would not be facing the gasoline rationing now," Marashi said.
