He also used an oil windfall to improve the lot of the poor, an effort that fell apart when oil prices plunged in the 1980s.

"Why would Iran want to jeopardize the oil windfall?"

But the recent oil windfall has stilled all talk of reform.

Saudi Arabia, for example, tried to use its oil windfall of the 1970's and early 1980's to become an agricultural powerhouse.

The ayatollahs used Iran's oil windfall to lock themselves into power.

Our citizens must refuse to be bought off with a fleeting oil windfall and the false impression of a return to superpower status.

Without its oil windfall, Saudi Arabia would have had a hard time financing radical Islamists across the globe.

Compare the situation in Norway, where all political parties agreed to use their oil windfall for longterm investment.

Its oil windfall, though, has raised questions about the prospects for such fiscal tightening.

Meanwhile government workers have been striking for a share of the oil windfall.