Iran introduced a new price category for nationally subsidized gasoline on Monday, trying for the first time to rein in skyrocketing costs since a 2019 price hike that sparked nationwide protests and a subsequent crackdown that reportedly killed more than 300 people, the AP reported, quoted by BTA.
Cheap gasoline has been viewed as a birthright in Iran for generations – and it has sparked mass demonstrations as far back as 1964, when price hikes forced the Shah to deploy military vehicles to replace the cars of striking taxi drivers.
But Iran’s theocracy is under increasing pressure from the rapidly depreciating rial and economic sanctions imposed over Tehran’s nuclear program.
That makes maintaining some of the lowest gasoline prices in the world – at a few cents a liter – even more expensive. Still, the government’s hesitant move to raise prices likely indicates it wants to avoid confrontation with a public exhausted by the 12-day war that Israel launched against the country in June.
The new system, introduced today, adds a third price tier to a long-running subsidy regime. The revised scheme allows drivers to continue to receive 60 liters per month at a subsidized price of 15,000 rials per liter, or 1.25 US cents, while the next 100 liters remain at 30,000 rials per liter, or 2.5 US cents.
Anything above that falls under the new price threshold – 50,000 rials per liter, or about 4 cents. Iran introduced a fuel quota regime back in 2007, but that has yet to curb demand for ultra-cheap gasoline.
Even with the new price, gasoline in Iran remains among the cheapest in the world.
Last night, Iran detained an oil tanker with an 18-man crew in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel was carrying six million liters of contraband, Fars news agency reported.
This came against a backdrop of tense geopolitical conditions, two days after the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, AFP noted.