PRICE OF GASOLINE

If fuel consumption rises, Tehran could become a gas importer. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said this, Trend.az news agency reports, according to “ТАСС”.

“If fuel consumption continues to rise, we will become gasoline importers again in a year”, the presidents press service quoted him saying. According to Rouhani, “in order to preserve our ability to supply ourselves and to control our gasoline consumption, a plan was implemented to introduce quotas and to increase fuel prices”.

According to Amnesty International, at least 106 people have been killed in 21 cities of Iran in a brutal crackdown on the protests, which take place already several days.

Referring to “unofficial news reports from various sources”, the BBC reports that some 200 people have been killed in the country in the last five days and three thousand have been injured.

Iran's supreme leader backed Sunday a government decision to increase fuel prices which sparked deadly protests over the weekend.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed "thugs" for damaging property in protests that left at least two people dead. His comments come as the government shut off internet across Iran in an attempt to quell protests over the raising of government-set gasoline prices by 50%.

Protests broke out throughout Iran Saturday after the government moved to effectively hike the price of gasoline by 50 percent overnight.

Angry protesters parked cars in the streets to block traffic in more than a dozen cities, and crowds numbering in the thousands marched throughout the country, many chanting, “Down with the dictator” and other anti-government slogans.

Some shouted, “The enemy is here!” a reference to the government’s continued vilification of the US.