Iran’s Gasoline Price Test Exposes Regime’s Fear of a New Social Explosion

Iran’s Gasoline Price Test Exposes Regime’s Fear of a New Social Explosion

A failed gasoline-price experiment in Kerman highlights the regime’s dilemma: preserve costly subsidies or risk triggering renewed protests amid a widening fuel deficit. For more than a decade, gasoline prices in Iran have been a political flashpoint. Few economic issues have so consistently threatened to shake government policy and trigger warnings of social unrest. The fundamental imbalance between the Iranian regime and society remains econom…