Fuel price hike will drive up living costs, Iranian MP says
An Iranian woman puts a nozzle back after refuelling her car at a petrol station in Tehran, Iran.
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.”
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday condemning the systematic persecution of Iran’s Baha’i community and urging EU governments to impose sanctions on officials involved in rights abuses.
The resolution was approved with 549 votes in favor, 7 against and 31 abstentions.
Members of the European Parliament said the Baha’is face escalating repression, including harassment, arbitrary detention and property confiscation, and called for the immediate release of all those jailed for their religious beliefs.
"Member states must raise the issue of severe human rights violations in Iran and impose sanctions on Iranian officials contributing to the persecution of the Baha’is," MEPs said in a statement.
The adopted resolution also said Baha’i women face gender-based persecution and account for around two thirds of those detained.
MEPs called on Iran to compensate victims, return seized assets and allow the Baha’i community access to education, employment and services.
Lawmakers criticized the rise in executions in Iran and urged Tehran to halt the use of capital punishment as a tool of political and religious repression.
The European Parliament’s resolution comes amid a renewed crackdown on Baha’is inside Iran and rising anti-Baha’i rhetoric on state media.
Last month, a hardline commentator on Iranian state television, Ali Shirazi, alleged that the Baha’i minority holds “an unbreakable bond with Zionism,” claiming that “Baha’i and Israel are one and the same.” His remarks followed reports by the Baha’i International Community (BIC) that at least 22 members of the faith had their homes and businesses raided in coordinated operations across six provinces.
Iran does not recognize the Baha’i faith as an official religion, unlike Christianity, Judaism or Zoroastrianism.
Baha'is constitute the largest religious minority in Iran and have faced systematic harassment and persecution since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.
Iranian authorities have long accused the Baha’i community of links to Israel, partly because the faith’s spiritual center is located in Haifa, where its founder’s shrine stands. Rights groups say such claims have been used to justify arrests, confiscations, and lengthy prison sentences.
Nearly three quarters of documented violations against religious minorities in Iran over the past three years have involved Baha'is, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
The Trump administration has responded to a message from Iran’s president, conveyed through the Saudi crown prince, by saying its three conditions for any negotiations with Tehran remain unchanged, sources told Iran International.
President Masoud Pezeshkian asked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the eve of his trip to Washington DC last week to act as an intermediary between Iran and the United States to help prepare the conditions for resuming talks, sources said.
In a confidential message delivered through Riyadh, Washington informed Tehran that it would return to the negotiating table only if Iran accepts the three demands previously outlined to Iranian negotiators by Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s special envoy, the sources added.
The United States has long insisted that Iran must completely halt its uranium enrichment program, stop supporting its armed allies in the Middle East, and accept restrictions on its ballistic missile program.
Following Pezeshkian’s latest request for Saudi mediation, sources said, Washington reiterated that any negotiations with Iran remain conditional on Tehran agreeing to those demands.
Iran International on Thursday asked the State Department whether Saudi Arabia had conveyed any message from Tehran or served as an intermediary. The State Department neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such contacts.
“As President Trump has repeatedly said, including at the UN General Assembly, the United States has kept the door open for serious and direct dialogue, even as Iran has consistently rejected negotiations,” the spokesperson said in response to an email inquiry.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday dismissed reports that Tehran had sought Riyadh’s help to facilitate talks with Washington, saying outreach to Trump would be beneath Iran’s dignity.
“They fabricate rumors claiming that Iran has sent a message to the United States through some country. It is pure lies. Nothing of the sort ever happened,” Khamenei said in a speech.
It is not clear whether Khamenei was not briefed on Pezeshkian’s outreach or whether the Islamic Republic chose to deny the entire exchange after receiving the US response.
The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Iran over its disputed nuclear program earlier this year, for which Trump set a 60-day deadline.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that President Trump’s letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, sent shortly before the war, explicitly presented two options: continued war and bloodshed, or direct negotiations aimed at completely eliminating Iran’s nuclear enrichment and ballistic missile programs.
Iran has repeatedly turned down talks with the Trump administration while Washington keeps the door open for serious dialogue, a State Department spokesperson told Iran International on Thursday.
“As President Trump has repeatedly said, including at the UN General Assembly, the United States has kept the door open for serious and direct dialogue, even as Iran has consistently rejected negotiations,” the spokesperson said in response to an email inquiry.
Iran International asked if the State Department had any confirmation, clarification, or response regarding an alleged Iranian message sent to the US via the Saudi crown prince or any indirect diplomatic outreach from Tehran.
Last week, Reuters reported citing two sources familiar with the exchange that Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian had urged Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to help persuade US President Donald Trump to revive nuclear talks.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday denied reports that Tehran had sought to enlist Riyadh as an intermediary in talks with Washington, saying outreach to President Donald Trump was beneath Iran's dignity.
“They fabricate rumors claiming that Iran has sent a message to the United States through some country. It is pure lies. Nothing of the sort ever happened," Khamenei said in a speech.
"The Americans betray even their own friends ... A government of this kind certainly does not deserve for a state such as the Islamic Republic to seek relations or cooperation with it."
‘No peaceful purpose’
The United States held five rounds of negotiations with Tehran over its disputed nuclear program earlier this year, for which President Donald Trump set a 60-day ultimatum.
When no agreement was reached by the 61st day on June 13, Israel launched a surprise military offensive, followed by US strikes on June 22 targeting key nuclear facilities in Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow.
The State Department said Iran’s pre-strike uranium enrichment served no credible peaceful purpose.
“Prior to the United States’ successful military operation, Iran was amassing a growing stockpile of highly enriched uranium for which there was no credible peaceful purpose,” the spokesperson said. “Iran was the only state producing highly enriched uranium to this level that does not have nuclear weapons.”
Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but Western powers and Israel doubt its intentions.
Canada told Iran International on Thursday it does not automatically reject Iranian men’s permanent residency applications solely for compulsory IRGC service, after a conscript said he was ruled inadmissible for his involuntary service.
In a written response via email, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) said that “conscription, in itself does not necessarily result in a person being deemed inadmissible to Canada, adding every application is examined case-by-case after thorough security screening.
"Officers consider whether service was voluntary, any involvement in violence or terrorism, rank and role within the IRGC, support for the organization’s goals, and current ties to its members," the statement said. "Senior regime officials who served after June 23, 2003, remain fully inadmissible."
The clarification follows Monday’s Federal Court dismissal of Mohammadreza Vadiati’s appeal. The 40-year-old Iranian asylum seeker had his permanent residency refused despite completing only mandatory IRGC service from 2006 to 2008 and insisting it was non-combatant.
Ottawa formally listed the IRGC as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code last year.
Under Canada’s anti-terrorism laws, membership in or support for a listed terrorist entity can result in inadmissibility, asset freezes, and criminal penalties.
The listing of the IRGC – which Canada blames for human rights abuses and the 2020 downing of flight PS752 – has broad implications for thousands of Iranian nationals who performed compulsory service.
Canadian politicians, including MP Kevin Vuong and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, have said the listing aims to curb Tehran’s influence in Canada and prevent IRGC-linked individuals from operating on Canadian soil.
The court also confirmed that humanitarian or family reunification arguments cannot override terrorism-related inadmissibility findings under the IRPA.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains a central conduit for Iranian funds reaching Hezbollah despite international sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
The newspaper cited Arab officials as saying that Iran routes money through UAE-based shell companies and hawala networks, or traditional means of transferring money that mostly skirt easy tracing. Hawala brokers in the UAE convert and move cash without creating bank records.
Hawala is a centuries-old informal money transfer system rooted in trust, operating outside traditional banking. No funds physically cross borders, brokers later settle balances through trade, reverse transfers or cash.
Hezbollah remains one of the most important armed allies of Iran in the region even after it took punishing blows from Israel in a war which was paused late last year.
To evade stricter airport controls, Iran now dispatches more travelers carrying smaller, undeclared amounts of cash and jewelry, the Journal cited the officials as saying.
“One billion used to be their entire annual budget, but after the war they need a lot more,” Hanin Ghaddar of the hawkish US-based thinktank the Washington Institute told the WSJ.
Iran supports an array of armed groups via the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), providing funding, training and weapons to advance its regional influence and confront rivals like Israel and the US.
Abu Dhabi has opened investigations and promised cooperation with Western allies, but enforcement has been inconsistent because of deep economic links with Iran, the report said.
Hamas and Hezbollah are quietly rebuilding their military capabilities amid a tense ceasefire with Israel, the Jerusalem Post reported last week. Both groups accuse Israel of violating ceasefires aimed at ending the region's two-year-old conflict.
Israel maintains military outposts on Lebanese territory and has carried out sporadic attacks targeting Hezbollah officials, including the assassination of its military chief of staff on Sunday.
Meanwhile Israeli strikes on what its forces call militant targets in Gaza have killed nearly 350 people in the impoverished enclave since a US-brokered truce last month.
‘Disarmament challenge’
Hezbollah and Iran are also active another front, since the government in Lebanon vowed to disarm the group and give the
Lebanon's government is pushing for Hezbollah to surrender its weapons nationwide by year's end, but the chances of its success appear remote.
Hezbollah insists it will only relinquish arms south of the Litani River in a southern sector adjoining Israel once its enemy fully withdraws from the country and stops its ceasefire violations.
Tehran views the surrender of Hezbollah’s weapons as capitulation to the United States and Israel and has dismissed efforts to seize its arms as fruitless.