'Mismanagement responsible for Iran fuel rationing'

Washington, July 3: The Bush administration has said that Iran government's mismanagement of the economy is responsible for the country's current domestic conditions, marked by the rationing of fuel for private vehicles.

''The Iranian government doesn't really have the expertise to properly manage the economy,'' State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack told newsmen yesterday.

The sudden June 27 decision by Iranian authorities to limit private drivers to 100 litres of fuel per month caused widespread unrest in the country, including the burning and vandalising of gasoline stations.

McCormack said, ''the fact that you have gas rationing, the fact that you have inflation, the fact that you have the Iranian government borrowing against its future are all indications that this is a government that is writing a lot of checks with its promises.'' The spokesman acknowledged that the UN Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran ''inevitably'' are having an effect on the Iranian people. But he said ''that effect really only adds marginally to the larger problem of the Iranian government's mismanagement of their economy.'' Even though international sanctions on Iran have caused financial difficulties for the Iranian government, McCormack said, the United States and others ''are working hard to make sure that the costs of these sanctions aren't borne primarily by the Iranian people.'' He said the sanctions appeared to have ''made it more difficult for the Iranian government to engage in illicit activities'' and ''raised some of the costs for the Iranian government operating in the international financial system.'' McCormack said the sanctions were due to the Iranian government's ''failure to cooperate with the international system,'' which had expressed, for example, concern that ''Iran is developing nuclear weapons under the guise of a civilian nuclear programme.'' ''If they continue in that sort of defiance of the international system, you're going to see more of these sanctions and there are going to be more costs to the Iranian government,'' he said.

UNI

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