Matthew Yglesias on why a gasoline embargo against Iran simply won’t work:
The great Iran policy debate landed this week back on the longstanding notion that the international community might ban gasoline exports to Iran. Legislation along these lines is being pushed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on the Hill, and David Sanger reported in Monday’s New York Times that the administration is discussing the potential sanction with congressional leaders, Israel, and European allies. This, hawks hope, will provide enough coercion to make Iran do what they want without the need for military aggression.
Why this particular notion has such a grip on the minds of hawks isn’t totally clear to me, but I suppose the idea is that there’s something amusingly ironic about using gasoline as a weapon against a major oil exporter. Iran, you see, is rich in oil but poor in oil refineries and consequently imports the majority of its refined petroleum products, including gasoline. Prevent the export of gasoline to Iran and prices will rise, likely forcing the government to implement a rationing scheme.