Petrol chicken coming home to roost?

Friday Jun 29 2007

So after years of not investing money in oil refineries and instead the Islamic Republic pouring Iran’s petro-dollars into terrorist organisations and efforts to destabilise the region, the petrol chicken has come home to roost.

After watching Iranian State television, he describes the seriousness of the petrol riots

It seemed like the country was at war. Patriotic songs were played, as they usually are in times of crisis for the clerics, the state radio suddenly remembered our pre-Islamic and national heroes.

and says that the regime fears this crisis more than other protests it has faced because it is affecting all of Iran at once, rather than just an isolated incident of an urban riot in one area where it can be crushed easily.

What should the opposition do? In my view the most important thing is to explain to people what a sensible secular regime, which is not bound by a fanatical Islamic ideology, will do to resolve the problem. We know why this mess has happened and we know who is responsible for it, but how would a secular alternative to the Islamic regime solve the problem? Thats what Iranian people want to know, thats what will give them the confidence to continue to challenge the regime.

Read the whole piece

Meanwhile, the US, sensing a weak point in the Iranian regime, and increasingly concerned about the nuclear threat, acted to try to reduce Tehran’s import of gasoline.

“This is becoming the critical weakness of the Iranian government, meaning its dependence on gasoline,” Kirk [Republican congressman] said in a telephone interview. “The riots show the gasoline shortage is a growing danger to the Iranian regime and a diplomatic opportunity for Western countries to force Iran to adhere to international nuclear rules.”