NICOSIA — Iran faces a disaster in its energy sector, a top official warned.
Iran's outgoing Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said the catastrophe
would be sparked by high domestic energy consumption. Hamaneh, who resigned
in
mid-August, said the Iranian crisis could take place by 2022.
"If we do not find a solution to the energy problem in the next 15
years, the country will face a catastrophe," Hamaneh said on Aug. 19. "I am
ready to prove that if the fuel situation continues along current trends, we
will face an energy crisis in the future. The current pattern of consumption
is a disaster for the country."
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Hamaneh, fired in a Cabinet reshuffle, was said to have opposed the
purge by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of the Oil Ministry. Hamaneh was
fired in wake of the introduction of gasoline rationing in June 2007, which
sparked widespread unrest.