FEELING THE PETROLEUM PINCH
Some nine months after imposing a strict domestic gasoline rationing scheme in an effort to limit its economic vulnerability, worries over internal stability are leading the Iranian government to ease the energy restrictions. According to Iran's Economy Minister, Davoud Danesh-Jafari, the Islamic Republic has "no choice" but to offer Iranian drivers extra gasoline, over and above the amount officially permitted under rationing - even though such supplies are expected to lead to higher inflation. The new plan will allow Iranians to purchase additional fuel – in excess of the 120 gallons currently permitted per month – at a higher price of between 5,000 and 7,000 rials per gallon.
The reasons for the effort appear to have everything to do with official efforts to curb the flourishing black market in petroleum that has sprung up within the Islamic Republic. "Many of our people, if they are in need of fuel, and they have no access to it, they are willing to get it at a higher price from others," Danesh-Jafari has explained. (Reuters, February 23, 2008)
AHMADINEJAD’S IRAQ MISSION
On March 1st, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad kicked off a high-profile two-day state visit to neighboring Iraq. The trip – the first ever by an Iranian president – was fraught with symbolism, intended to highlight the growing “brotherly” relations between the onetime regional rivals, as well as to dilute American influence within the former Ba’athist state.
But was the Iranian president’s mission of political influence successful? At least some observers are skeptical. More than anything else, Ahmadinejad’s visit “showed the limits of Iranian influence in the newly liberated country,” writes veteran regime watcher Amir Taheri in the New York Post. “Weeks of hard work by Iranian emissaries and pro-Iran elements in Iraq were supposed to ensure massive crowds thronging the streets of Baghdad and throwing flowers on the path of the visiting Iranian leader. Instead, no more than a handful of Iraqis turned up for the occasion... [while] much larger crowds gathered to protest Ahmadinejad's visit. In the Adhamiya district of Baghdad, several thousand poured into the streets with cries of ‘Iranian aggressor, go home!’" (Reuters, February 28, 2008; New York Post, March 8, 2008)
GROWING REPRESSION WITHIN THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC
Over the past year, human rights conditions within the Islamic Republic have gone from bad to worse, according to a new survey by the U.S. Department of State. The study, included in the State Department's just-released Country Reports on Human Rights Practices 2007, assesses that in 2007 the Iranian government's "poor human rights record worsened, and it continued to commit numerous, serious abuses." These included "unjust executions after unfair trials," as well as "politically motivated abductions; torture and severe officially-sanctioned punishments, including death by stoning; amputation; flogging; and excessive use of force against and imprisonment of demonstrators."
The report also notes widespread instances of arbitrary arrest and detention targeting political prisoners and women's rights activists. The Iranian government, the report concludes, has "severely restricted civil liberties, including freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, movement, and privacy." Also notable, coming just days before Iran's parliamentary elections, is the study's conclusion that the regime in Tehran has "severely limited citizens' right to change their government peacefully through free and fair elections." (U.S. Department of State, March 12, 2008)
AN ELECTION BLACKOUT
Iran’s government is tightening its grip on the World-Wide Web ahead of the country’s parliamentary polls, scheduled for March 14th. Regime officials have disclosed that private Internet access may be blocked for Iranians during the elections. The proposed ban appears to be at least in part a social control measure. "Shutting down the Internet service will depend on security plans and on the Ministry of Telecommunication," the Etemad-e Melli newspaper cites Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi as saying. (International Herald Tribune, March 3, 2008)
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