The government's decision to introduce monthly rations on petrol, together with a 20% price hike on fuels, has sparked mass riots at gas stations in Iran, CNN reported.

Hundreds of thousands of motorists have been lining up in queues, while some petrol stations, 12 in Tehran alone, have been ransacked and burned.

The monthly ration has been set at 100 litres, while the petrol price will be raised to around 9 eurocents, a fraction of real costs.

Iran keeps the price artificially low, spending at least EUR 1,5 B on subsidies, and is forced to import almost half of the petrol sold in Iran.

Even though the country is the second-biggest oil producer in the world, its decrepit oil refineries cannot process enough crude to satisfy domestic demand.

The situation could become even worse if the western powers impose strict trade restrictions for Iran's failure to comply with the UN's demands for it to abort its nuclear programme.

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