Oil-rich Iran to ration petrol

Oil-rich Iran will ration petrol as of September this year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday.

News agency ISNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the government will stick to a parliamentary bill approved last year and obliging the government to ration petrol from September 23, 2006.

Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said on state television that the rationing might even start earlier than announced.