Iran doubles some gasoline prices, triggering strikes by drivers

The latest:

Gasoline prices for drivers exceeding their subsidized quotas doubled Monday to the equivalent of $0.04 a liter, according to The Wall Street Journal, leaving a full tank at roughly $2 for a car and $5 for a truck. Some stations ran dry as motorists rushed to refuel before the increase. Taxi, truck and ride-hailing drivers have since staged walkouts in several cities.

Details:

• The price change: The increase applies to passenger vehicles filling beyond their allocated quotas, according to the Journal, and follows earlier cuts to monthly subsidized allocations. A full tank could now cost $2 for a car and $5 for a truck, a heavy burden where most workers earn little more than $100 a month.
• The supply crunch: Some stations ran dry as drivers rushed to fill up ahead of the new prices. A driver in Aryanshahr in northeast Iran said he was stranded with his family after being told fuel would not return until the next day, in a video posted by the Union of Truckers and Drivers Organizations Across Iran.
• Why Tehran cut subsidies: The government has been forced to slash fuel support as its cost rises, according to the Journal. Tehran is simultaneously repairing refinery damage sustained during the war and struggling to import gasoline through the American blockade, tightening domestic supply.
• Taxi drivers protest: On Thursday, 120 taxi drivers in the eastern province of Kerman protested a cut in their subsidized fuel allocation, according to the Union of Truckers and Drivers. They said they are now left without supplies for a third of every month, combining long passenger waits with recurring shortages.
• Ride-hailing walkout: Drivers for Snapp, Iran’s answer to Uber, struck this week in several cities. Launched in 2014 and now among the country’s biggest private employers with 3 million drivers, the company saw dozens line up Monday outside the governor’s office in Arak, saying fares no longer covered their costs.
• Street protests: Drivers paraded across the main thoroughfares of Semnan, east of Tehran, on Sunday, blocking traffic, according to footage verified by Storyful. One said in a video that all of them had stopped working. Storyful is owned by News Corp, the Journal’s parent company.
• Freight disruption: Truck drivers at the Mehran terminal on the Iraqi border staged a one-day strike in late August over fuel shortages, according to the Human Rights Activists News Agency, a U.S. nonprofit. The crossing is a key food-staples route. Truckers at Bandar Abbas, which handles most of Iran’s container traffic, warned Tuesday they could follow.
• Industry voice: Jalal Mousavi, vice president of the Truck Drivers Association, which is close to the government, told the state-controlled Iran Labor News Agency on Sunday that haulers kept cargo moving “during the war and under missile attacks” without stopping for an hour, but now face long refueling lines.
• Currency and prices: The rial crossed 2.3 million to the dollar Wednesday, a new low, after diplomatic progress stalled and Washington tightened its pressure campaign. Food inflation ran at 128% in August. A roll of 30 garbage bags now costs $4.26, with petrochemical plants hit early in the war.
• Household squeeze: Snapp now lets customers pay for groceries and taxi rides in four installments. A Tehran resident in her 40s said she buys food at wholesalers’ warehouses and cut her child’s school supplies, while a property owner in his 70s said he raised rent 250% over five years to $149 a month.

Background:

The protests extend earlier demonstrations by workers and retirees in the telecommunications, oil and teaching sectors over deteriorating living conditions. Transport workers, hit hardest by the fuel measures, have now joined them.

Between the lines:

The strikes cluster at Iran’s supply chokepoints rather than its political centers: the Mehran food crossing, the Bandar Abbas container port, and the ride-hailing network employing 3 million people. Drivers describe conditions worse now than during active combat, when, by the industry association’s account, cargo never stopped moving — placing the disruption on subsidy policy and import constraints rather than wartime damage alone.

What’s next

Whether Bandar Abbas truckers act on their strike warning, how far the rial slides past 2.3 million to the dollar, and whether Tehran restores quota allocations or extends price increases to further fuel categories.