The big squeeze

摘要

"I pray to God that I will never know about economics," President Ahmadinejadrnonce said when questioned about apparent contradictions in his economic policy. The Lord appears to have answered his prayer. On his watch, the world oil price has soared from $62 a barrel when he was elected in June 2005 to $72 a barrel in recent weeks. Iran, which has a young, well-educated workforce, along with the world's second-largest reserves of both oil and gas, should be on a roll. Instead the economy is struggling. Is this a weaknessrnthe world can use to dissuade Iran from its nuclear ambitions?