Several.
Much of the Iranian petrol productin infrastructure was located within range of Iraqi bombers during the Iran – Iraq war and were prime targets, with some completely destroyed and many of the remainder badly damaged.
Thus the seeds were sown for the limitations in Iranian domestic petrol refining capacity seen today.
So why haven’t they built new ones I hear you say?
The US embargo on financing any construction in Iran (and a similar ban is in place in the UK and much of the EU). Companies are strange like that, they like to be paid, with lots of hard cash up front and regular progress payments.
But Iran can finance it themselves I hear you say?
The main companies who could build the Mullah’s their petrol refining facilities are affiliated with the major oil companies, all of who hate the Mullahs with a passion, as Khomeini and his merry gang nationalised the foreign oil company’s assets after the Islamic revolution in Iran.
The construction companies are not going to piiss off their main customers and business partners to do deals with a bunch of West-hating clerics.
Surely there are non-Western construction companies who would do the construction you ask?
Indeed, however the demand for refining capability worldwide is such that they have a long list of other, less politically unacceptable customers to build for first, Anyway, very few of them want to really piiss of the US, because the industry is a small one, and what comes around, goes around.
Thus Iran has to buy most of the petrol it uses, which suits the oil companies, the US and the other oil producing countries.
Hope this helps.
Unicorn
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