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Iran's Speaker asks people to cut gas use by 10% before winter as prices bite
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf offered cash to households that save. Under a US naval blockade, Iranians face medicine shortages and food prices that have soared since the war began.
Key points
- Ghalibaf called for gas consumption to be cut by at least 10% before winter.
- Households that save would get payments into their bank accounts.
- Rice costs over 60% more and beef over 150% more than before the war.
Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, has asked Iranians to cut their use of natural gas by at least 10% before winter, and said households that manage it would be paid for the savings directly into their bank accounts.
The appeal on Sunday is a sign of how hard the war, now nearing its eighth month, is pressing on daily life. A US naval blockade is restricting Iran’s oil exports.
Prices have climbed steeply. Rice is more than 60% dearer than when the war began in February, and beef more than 150% dearer. Medicines are in short supply. President Masoud Pezeshkian acknowledged on Saturday that many Iranians are struggling to buy food.
Many people also fear that the worst is yet to come, with elections in Israel on Tuesday and in the United States on 3 November. Sasan Karimi, a former official who teaches at the University of Tehran, said Iran’s leaders expect President Donald Trump to order new strikes whatever the result of the midterms.
Ghalibaf, who is also Iran’s chief negotiator with Washington, spoke on the same day that he said the United States had walked into a “quagmire” of its own making. Last week he stayed away from the BRICS Parliamentary Forum in New Delhi, citing “unforeseen circumstances”. On Sunday Mr Trump ruled out a strike that day, but said he was still weighing a deal against military action.