Iran’s latest gasoline price hike is weighing on daily life well beyond fuel costs, pushing up food prices, transport fares and medical expenses and adding strain to already stretched household budgets, citizens said in messages to Iran International.
A three-tier gasoline pricing system, including sales at 50,000 rials per liter, took effect nationwide from the early hours of Saturday.
The move was followed by further devaluation of Iran’s rial, with the US dollar trading at a record high of 1.3 million rials on Sunday.
Iran International asked its audience how the change was affecting living costs and received a wave of responses describing what many called a new economic shock.
A retired bank employee said that the impact was immediate. “Before gasoline became more expensive, my pension might last half the month. Now it probably won’t even cover 10 days. Living expenses no longer match a retiree’s income."
Others pointed to parallel increases in unrelated costs. One citizen said a natural gas bill jumped from 520,000 rials (40 cents) to 32 million rials ($25), while another complained that some basic goods had already vanished from shops.
“Because of the gasoline price hike, Pakistani and Indian rice couldn’t be found in stores today,” one message read.
Inflation fears and shrinking food baskets
Many respondents said higher fuel prices were feeding directly into inflation, particularly for food and medicine. “It affects everything. Tables get smaller and medicine becomes several times more expensive,” one citizen wrote.
The warnings come as pressure on patients has already intensified following the removal of preferential currency rates for some imported medicines.
On Saturday, Hadi Ahmadi, a board member of Iran’s Pharmacists Association, said many patients were buying only parts of their prescriptions or abandoning purchases altogether due to rising prices.
Several messages also pointed to increases in staple foods, including rice, bread, eggs and dairy products, even before the gasoline hike was formally announced.
Drivers and fuel-dependent workers hit hardest
Drivers and those whose livelihoods depend on fuel said they were among the hardest hit. A ride-hailing company driver wrote that higher gasoline prices had made it impossible to keep working because income no longer covered expenses. Others reported sharp rises in taxi and freight fares.
Some respondents framed the issue as a broader structural crisis. “When gasoline becomes more expensive, everything automatically follows,” one reader wrote. “Wages are paid in rials, but expenses are in dollars,” reads another message.
The hike has revived memories of November 2019, when a sudden fuel price increase triggered nationwide protests and a deadly crackdown.
Since then, fuel pricing has remained one of Iran’s most sensitive economic issues, with many citizens now warning that the latest changes are shrinking household budgets further and pushing more families closer to the poverty line.
