From May 4 to May 7, 2025, frequent and unscheduled power outages have sparked public protests in various cities, including Tehran, Pardis, Mehrshahr in Karaj, Shahr-e Rey, Baharestan, Soltanabad, Shahriar, Abadan, Behbahan, Ramhormoz, and Mahirood in South Khorasan province. In Tehran, citizens in the Ahan Bazaar (Iron Market) area, at National University, and in the city of Pardis took to the streets, chanting “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator.” Many sectors, from bakers and poultry farmers to merchants and shopkeepers, joined the protests.
Previously, former regime president Ebrahim Raisi, who had witnessed the people’s strong backlash against the regime during the gasoline price hike protests in 2019 and fearing a repeat of the uprising, had said: “We will not do anything that shocks the economy, and we will not surprise the people.” His intention was that, to cover the expenses of suppression, warmongering, and the costs of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), they would not impose the “shock” of power outages and sudden price increases. Instead, they would act gradually, step by step, slowly—in short, “incrementally”—and inflict harm deceptively.
The new plan for incremental increases in electricity and fuel prices is a fearful and criminal endeavor in this same direction.
The state-run Arman newspaper, on April 22, 2025, expressing concern about growing dissatisfaction and the social consequences of rising electricity prices, under the headline “An 83% increase in electricity tariffs is on the way,” referred to the “new incremental tariff structure” and wrote: “Given the current economic conditions of the country, increasing electricity tariffs can put additional pressure on households… For subscribers whose consumption reaches up to 800 kilowatt-hours, the bill amount can increase to about 1.8 million tomans. This increase in costs, especially for middle and low-income households, can lead to a decrease in purchasing power and an increase in public dissatisfaction.”
On the other hand, Hamidreza Azizi, a member of the regime parliament’s Energy Commission, announced a new plan to increase gasoline prices. He said: A three-tiered gasoline pricing system is coming, with prices per liter reaching up to 200,000 rials. According to this MP, under this new system, each citizen will receive a gasoline quota based on their national ID code. For example, each person will be allocated one liter of gasoline per day at a subsidized price of 30,000 rials, totaling 30 liters per month. Consumption beyond this amount will be calculated incrementally: 120 to 200 liters at 100,000 rials per liter, and higher amounts at the open market price of 200,000 rials per liter.
The incremental increase in fuel prices from 30,000 rials to 200,000 rials, coupled with the rationed distribution of gasoline—meaning “one liter of gasoline per person per day”—and the blade of an 83% electricity price hike at the throats of the people, is a step towards sacrificing millions of Iranians at the feet of the infernal fuel, electricity, and gas mafia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). This is a mafia that reaps billions of dollars in revenue from cryptocurrency mining farms and smuggles millions of liters of fuel in broad daylight every day.
During the factional infighting and the impeachment of Abdolnasser Hemmati, the regime’s former Minister of Economy, Masoud Pezeshkian, the regime president, referring to the IRGC’s “extensive network” in fuel smuggling, said: “20 million liters of diesel are smuggled daily. Now the question is, who is taking this huge amount of reserves out of the country? It’s not like someone can carry diesel by hand or in small barrels across the border. This volume of smuggling requires an extensive network, so it must be determined who is involved in this cycle.”
A member of the regime’s parliament, referring to the end of people’s tolerance and the crisis engulfing the entire system, stated on April 21, 2025: “Industries are shutting down, farmers are miserable and in trouble. 6 to 10 hours of blackouts daily have paralyzed industries and ruined farmers… All farmers are protesting now. If you are going to stop diesel smuggling, stop the 20-30 million liters daily. Stop the official smuggling from refineries in the south and east of the country. Farmers are not smugglers for you to do these things to them…”
The confessions, anxieties, and expressions of concern from regime figures and media indicate that the regime is trapped in a quagmire of incurable crises, and the more it struggles, the deeper it sinks.