{"id":282752,"date":"2026-09-08T00:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/282752\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T00:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T00:17:07","slug":"iran-increases-gasoline-price-for-its-heaviest-consumers-as-economy-struggles-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/282752\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran increases gasoline price for its heaviest consumers as economy struggles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">TEHRAN, Iran &#8212; TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/iran\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Iran<\/a> early Tuesday introduced a higher price for its heaviest users of gasoline, state media reported, in the latest <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-economy-sanctions-inflation-73b0278a0307030588cac9f47b3443e0\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">economic pinch<\/a> caused by months of war. It\u2019s the second such hike since December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Such gas price increases can be sensitive and contribute to inflation. An increase in 2019 sparked nationwide protests and a crackdown that reportedly killed over 300 people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Without specifically mentioning the war with the United States, the government\u2019s announcement cited the \u201ccurrent situation,\u201d adding that the extra money from the price increase will be given to households.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Under the new system, people buying more than their quota of 110 liters (29 gallons) of gasoline a month now must pay 100,000 rials (about 7 cents) per liter, or twice as much as they have been paying since December.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Iran still has some of the world\u2019s lowest gasoline prices, but the price increase adds to daily pressures for many of the country\u2019s more than 90 million people. Already, the currency has been dropping to record lows, and purchasing power has weakened. On Monday, the U.S. dollar was trading at 2.22 million rials.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Keramat Veis Karami, the CEO of the state oil distribution company, on Monday said the new gasoline rate would affect 15% of consumers, the official IRNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The CEO said consumption reached a record high at 145 million liters (38 million gallons) per day in August, while domestic production capacity was 122 million liters per day. The rest of the supply is imported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Raising prices can help calm high consumption, which experts have blamed on aging cars and spare parts in Iran as well as insufficient public transportation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">But experts also say increases in gasoline prices will lead to higher inflation in a country that&#8217;s already struggling with an annual inflation rate of about 67%, according to the country\u2019s statistics center, a government agency.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Cheap gasoline has been viewed for generations as a birthright in Iran, sparking mass demonstrations as far back as 1964, when a price increase forced the shah to put military vehicles on the streets to replace those of striking taxi drivers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">An hour after the new pricing went into practice, two of eight gas stations visited by The Associated Press were closed to regulate the price rate of the pumps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The six others were active, and a dozen cars were in line in each.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Security was tight around the filling stations and both uniformed and plainclothes police were visible around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">In the queue, Asghar Rahimi, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, said the price increases will not stop.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cThe tiny amount cannot help government to manage problems like poverty and unemployment,\u201d Rahimi said. \u201cThis was the first step. In coming months, they need to raise it again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Another resident, Ali Salari, 55, feared the raise in price will affect prices of other goods, including bread and meat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cIt has been that way ever since government manipulated gas prices,\u201d Salari said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Tehran citizen Hamid Mirzei, 43, said food prices have kept rising and a grocery trip just for staples, like beans and lentils, can cost up to 100 million rials ($73). <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cLife has become difficult for all of us. Even basic groceries are becoming unaffordable,\u201d Mirzei said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cIf gasoline prices go up as well, things will only get much worse,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEHRAN, Iran &#8212; TEHRAN, Iran (AP) \u2014 Iran early Tuesday introduced a higher price for its heaviest users&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[328,1003,2276,197,1004,34,196,2222,82],"class_list":["post-282752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-business","tag-consumer-prices","tag-energy-markets","tag-general-news","tag-inflation","tag-iran","tag-iran-war","tag-oil-and-gas-industry","tag-world-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117232549377798717","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}