Iran's petroleum wealth fails ease growing disquiet

In the first days of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, the cost of a kilogramme of chicken has risen about 10 per cent in Tehran.

While price increases in the shops do not make international headlines – unlike Iran's nuclear programme – they are disappointing Iranians who were told by President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to expect a ziafat-e ramezan, or Ramadan banquet.

Iranians tend to blame the government for life's ills, but popular grumbles do not bode well for Mr Ahmadi-Nejad, elected last year on a promise to shower oil wealth on the people's sofreh, or "dining cloth".

Domestic criticism of the president, even from fellow fundamentalists, now focuses on the economy.

Sales of crude oil bring in 80 per cent of the country's foreign exchange and 60 per cent of government revenues, so relatively high oil prices give the president the resources for a programme of provincial development and wealth redistribution.

But critics, especially those in Iran's private sector, say he is flying in the face of economic reality with slogans of "social justice" designed to revive the ideals of the 1979 revolution but which, in fact, mask higher inflation and rising unemployment.