Another question for you, Afsaneh, if you'll oblige me: Most of the oilfields in Iran are owned by the Iranian National Oil Company, but are they technically owned by the people like those in Iraq, whose 2005 Constitution states that all oil and gas is owned by “all the people of Iraq in all regions and governorates.” ? Just curious.
Sure,
I'm not sure how that is in Iraq, but here government gets paid for selling the oil, and that pays for the whole budget. In our system executive power writes the budget, and congress has to pass that or make changes and then the two branch agree on the changes. So essentially not all the people get the oil revenue in a fair manner. For instance, those working for the oil ministry get higher salaries than those who work for education ministry. We don't have any other major source of revenue and depending on who is in the office, and their plans and consequently their budget, one field gets more attention than the other.
