“If the Plan to redirect subsidies is implemented efficiently, Iran will be one of the top 10 world economies by 2015!” – these were President Ahmadinejad’s ambitious words in a meeting between the cabinet and Parliamentarians on 10 November 2009. Considering Iran’s current state of affairs, this seems to be a far-fetched objective, especially considering that Iran’s resource-rich economy is heavily burdened by the country’s political realities.