Iran introduces higher petrol price for major consumers

TEHRAN: Iran has imposed higher prices at petrol stations for motorists who use more than 160 litres a month, state media reported on Tuesday.

The decision comes amid pressure to scale back fuel subsidies in the country, which has the world’s cheapest petrol, as its economy reels from strains made worse by hefty international sanctions.

From the middle of the Iranian month of Azar (December 6), there will be a third price tier for petrol, under a recent cabinet decision reported on Tuesday by state television.

The first rate will remain unchanged: for the first 60 litres each month, the price will be 15,000 rials (1.3 US cents) per litre, the decision said.

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The second rate will also remain unchanged at 30,000 rials (2.6 US cents) a litre for the next 100 litres monthly.

But the statement said that after 160 litres, each additional litre will cost the consumer 50,000 rials (4.3 US cents).

“There is no doubt that petrol should be made more expensive,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said last month.

“But is it that easy to intervene in the price? We have to look at thousands of variables and plan and think of solutions,” he added.

Protests broke out the last time petrol prices in Iran were raised.

In November 2019, deadly demonstrations erupted hours after the price increased by as much as 200 percent.

Motorists blocked roads in the capital Tehran before the unrest spread to at least 40 urban centres.

Protesters torched petrol pumps, police stations were attacked, and shops were looted.

Internet connectivity also faced heavy restrictions in the country for a week.

Iran’s economy has been crippled by sanctions imposed after the United States and Western capitals accused Tehran of seeking to weaponise its nuclear programme.

Tehran has consistently denied the allegations, insisting its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes only.