Protests erupt across Iran after gasoline-price increase

Protests erupted in cities across Iran, leaving at least one person dead, after the government unexpectedly hiked gasoline prices, the semi-official Iranian Student’s News Agency reported…

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A special economic commission decided late Thursday to boost gasoline prices by as much as three times and also to ration the motor fuel, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported. The price increase came without any prior warning…

Iran’s Supreme Economic Council, a body comprising Rouhani, the head of the judiciary and the leader of Iran’s parliament, met on Saturday in response to anger at the fuel-price increase. On Sunday, Iran’s parliament plans to debate a bill to reverse the price increase and effectively nullify the decision, Aliasghar Yousefnejad, a lawmaker and member of the parliamentary executive board, told the state-run IRNA in an interview.

It’s unclear whether parliamentary votes can overrule rulings by the Supreme Economic Council. The last time Iran introduced fuel rationing was in 2007 during hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second term. That prompted protests at petrol stations and some were even set on fire. Rouhani’s government ended the policy in 2015.

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