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Protests Grip Major Iran Cities Over Gas Prices; 1 Killed

Associated Press

   DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - Protesters angered by Iran raising
   government-set gasoline prices by 50% blocked traffic in major cities
   and occasionally clashed with police Saturday after a night of
   demonstrations punctuated by gunfire, in violence that reportedly
   killed at least one person.

   The protests put renewed pressure on Iran's government as it struggles
   to overcome the U.S. sanctions strangling the country after President
   Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran's nuclear deal
   with world powers.

   Though largely peaceful, demonstrations devolved into violence in
   several instances, with online videos purporting to show police
   officers firing tear gas at protesters and mobs setting fires. While
   representing a political risk for President Hassan Rouhani ahead of
   February parliamentary elections, it also shows the widespread anger
   among Iran's 80 million people who have seen their savings evaporate
   amid scarce jobs and the national rial currency's collapse.

   The demonstrations took place in more than a dozen cities in the hours
   following President Hassan Rouhani's decision early Friday to cut
   gasoline subsidies to fund handouts for Iran's poor. Gasoline in the
   country still remains among the cheapest in the world, with the new
   prices jumping up to a minimum of 15,000 rials per liter of gas -- 50%
   up from the day before. That's 13 cents a liter, or about 50 cents a
   gallon. A gallon of regular gasoline in the U.S. costs, on average,
   $2.60 by comparison.

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