An Iranian lawmaker has warned that the government’s new three-tier gasoline pricing system will drive up the cost of goods and services nationwide, saying the move was made without coordination with parliament or the public.
Mohsen Biglari, secretary of parliament’s Budget and Planning Committee, said lawmakers had not been informed in advance of the government’s plan to add a new 5,000-toman (4.4 cents per the free market rate) fuel tier for drivers refueling beyond their monthly quotas or without personal fuel cards.
“If people have to buy 5,000-toman gasoline after using their quota, this increase will definitely affect the prices of other goods and services,” Biglari told Rouydad24. “We’ve seen how such policies ripple through the economy before.”
Biglari said even members of parliament learned of the change from the media, despite President Masoud Pezeshkian’s earlier campaign pledge that no fuel price hike would occur “without coordination with the people.”
“Such a major decision should have been discussed with us as representatives of the people,” Biglari said. “While the move may not be illegal, it contradicts the president’s promise of transparency.”
Economic and political backdrop
The government’s new fuel pricing system, announced last week, introduces a third rate at 5,000 tomans per liter for drivers refueling without personal cards or beyond their quota, while keeping existing 1,500- and 3,000-toman rates. Officials say the plan aims to reduce subsidies and curb rising consumption.
The Pezeshkian administration faces mounting fiscal pressure as fuel demand exceeds domestic production, forcing costly imports. The government says the reform will encourage efficient use and deter smuggling.
Biglari cautioned that even limited fuel price hikes could heighten public frustration if introduced without transparency. The warning comes amid memories of the 2019 fuel price protests, which erupted after an overnight price increase.
“Decisions like this, if made without public dialogue or proper study, can lead to social discontent,” he said, urging the government to act “with coordination and careful review to avoid potential risks.”
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.
