Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who promised economic transformation and spreading the wealth down to the poor, will suffer from a serious drawback when he realises that there is not sufficient cash in the safe for his adventures. And I think it's quite likely that the peak of the problem will appear just a couple of months before the elections. Given this situation it is bizarre that, instead of listening to others and putting the wrongs right, he either ignores criticism or condemns it; while silencing the critics is not off the menu. The following are just a few examples:

• At the end of his first year in office, Iranian economists sent President Ahmadinejad a letter, voicing concern over his policies. Then, nearing the end of his second year as President, 57 prominent economists sent a second letter, followed by a meeting when they repeated their criticism, openly talking about the faults of the system that Mr Ahmadinejad has implemented. No results.
• Hassan Rohani, the former chief nuclear negotiator and perhaps a hopeful in the next elections, criticised the economic policies of the government, such as an empty foreign exchange reserve, as well as the hawkish tone of Mr Ahmadinejad and his foreign policy. In return, he was criticised repeatedly in several conservative newspapers and by ministers and advisers.
• Ahmadinejad's former interior minister is going to be taken to court because he has disapproved of how decisions are made and has "given wrong statistics" in a TV programme, according to the government. Pourmohammadi was replaced by Ali Kordan earlier this year because he had disagreed with the President over a few issues.
• Inflation has been over 29 per cent in September according to the CBI. In the same month, when Ahmadinejad was in New York to talk at the UN, he sacked the head of CBI. One of Mazaheri's crimes was adopting a tight policy in order to control inflation. The other, apparently, was the banker's disapproval of the government's handling of the economy.
• And in the middle of this mayhem, the government introduced a value added tax system at a rate of 3 per cent. The traditional vessel of economy in Iran, the Bazaar, was not too happy with the decision and bazaars in Tehran, Esfahan, Tabriz and some other cities were shut down, forcing the plan to be withdrawn.

Monetary prospects are not good and they will certainly influence the choice of a nation which is getting poorer day by day, and at a soaring rate.

Long live Venezuela! Long live Bolivia! What would Iran do without these strategic allies around the corner?