Long lines at a fuel station in the intense heat in Minab;

At the same time as long queues have formed at fuel supply stations in various cities across Iran in recent weeks, the government, starting from September 8, changed the price of premium (free) gasoline by increasing it twofold to 10,000 tomans.

While government officials cite the cause of these disruptions as “an increase in consumption and the need to manage demand,” economic experts and critics believe that raising the price of gasoline, rather than addressing the production imbalance and curbing smuggling, only imposes new inflationary pressure on people’s livelihoods.