Gangs of youths torched petrol stations and long queues developed at pumps in Tehran after the Iranian Government announced the start of fuel rationing, causing the kind of violent protests rarely seen in the Islamic Republic.

Despite Iran being Opec's No 2 oil producer, the country's Oil Ministry announced yesterday evening that it was enforcing the rations from midnight last night.

Reading out the statement, Iranian state television said that private cars would be rationed to 100 litres per month, while those using petrol and compressed natural gas would only be allowed 30 litres.

It added that the rationing would continue for four months and might be extended to six. Separate quotas have also been introduced for municipal yellow taxis and privately-run taxi firms.

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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad hopes that his Government's controversial plan will force Iranians to pay a higher price for a commodity that now costs less than a comparable amount of mineral water.

In the past, cheap pump prices have encouraged such widespread consumption that, despite its huge oil production rate, Iran has ironically been forced to spend billions of dollars each year importing petrol.

However, the plan was greeted with violent protests by Iranians last night as the rationing came into force, while long queues for several hundred metres were also spotted outside petrol stations.

Cars were seen burning inside a number of Tehran's petrol stations while demonstrators were seen throwing stones, and anti-riot police were called in.

Iranian radio said today that several stations had been attacked “by vandals,” but did not say how many stations were damaged or give further details.

Today, the Iranian Government attempted to calm the situation by saying it might review its gasoline rationing plan in two months, but it remained unclear as to whether this would lessen the internal unrest.

At midnight, queues of more than half a mile were seen outside some petrol stations in the Iranian capital, the AP news agency reported. Minutes before midnight, cars stuck in some of the long queues began blaring their horns in protest, causing arguments with nearby residents trying to sleep, the agency added.

“This man, Ahmadinejad, has damaged all things. The timing of the rationing is just one case,” Reza Khorrami, a 27-year-old teacher who was among those queuing up at one Tehran gas station before midnight, told AP.

“Is this good timing, to announce rationing only three hours before it starts?” complained Ahmad Safai, a 30-year-old shopkeeper who was in line. “I had no gas in my car’s tank when I heard the report.”

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