US enemies in gas deal

AP/Houston Chronicle:

Venezuela has agreed to sell gasoline to Iran, the South American county's energy minister said in comments published today, a week after the Islamic country imposed a fuel rationing program that has sparked violence.

"Yes, Iranians have asked to buy gasoline from us and we have accepted this demand," Rafael Ramirez told the Iranian daily newspaper Shargh. The reformist daily said Ramirez declined to elaborate on the deal.

During a visit to Iran this week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called the two nations "strategic partners." Ramirez accompanied Chavez on the visit.

Last week, the Iranian government began rationing fuel, causing angry Iranians to smash shop windows and set fire to dozens of gas stations in the capital Tehran and several other cities.

The government says the fuel rationing will free up funding for development projects and make the country "invincible."

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Iran's most urgent problem is that it is attempting to distort the market place by subsidizing the cost of gas. If gas were sold at a market price, there would be no need for rationing and the government would not be operating at a deficit. But, shhh, don't tell them something that might get them out of the mess they made of their economy. Let them buy gas from Hugo and pay the transportation cost of taking it halfway around the world.