TEHRAN - President Masoud Pezeshkian has announced that Iran no longer needs to import gasoline, a milestone achieved amid a tightened U.S. economic blockade that has targeted the country’s energy sector and currency reserves.
Speaking on energy consumption and fuel supply under economic siege on Sunday, Pezeshkian said the government prioritized conservation and demand management, with public cooperation yielding substantial savings.
“Today we are free from gasoline imports, while we would have had to spend $12 billion on importing the needed gasoline,” he said, adding that all revenues from fuel price adjustments would be returned to the people.
He also called for media engagement to strengthen national unity and social cohesion on energy management.
The shift was made possible through a three-pronged package combining pricing tools and non-price mechanisms, according to a Tasnim report.
First, the government restructured gasoline subsidies by introducing and later raising a third-tier price, first at 5,000 tomans per liter alongside the subsidized rate of 1,500 tomans and the free-market quota rate of 3,000 tomans, then lifting the third tier to 10,000 tomans. This targeted subsidies toward basic livelihood quotas and deterred excessive consumption by high-use vehicles.
Second, authorities moved to curb smuggling and opaque transactions by personalizing emergency fuel cards at filling stations. Previously, unlimited anonymous use of free cards with a default password had pushed station-card transactions to 40–45 percent of total distribution, enabling daily smuggling of 4–5 million liters.
Under the new system, users must insert a bank card, undergo a 10-second national ID verification, and receive a one-time four-digit code linked to the Mana system.
Third, the government accelerated the shift toward compressed natural gas (CNG), leveraging one of the world’s largest distribution networks with over 2,500 active stations.
Incentive packages and media campaigns encouraged the conversion of public transport and ride-hailing fleets to dual-fuel systems.
By October, CNG consumption had risen 14 percent, equivalent to a reduction of about 2 million liters of gasoline per day.