Overview
- This week videos and eyewitness reports showed kilometre‑long lines and drivers waiting overnight at Tehran and Karaj petrol stations, with some pumps temporarily closing and outlets rationing fuel.
- Iranian officials publicly denied an acute collapse in supply while privately acknowledging a structural daily shortfall and warning that fuel subsidies and prices will have to change at an unspecified time.
- Tehran links the squeeze to wartime damage to refineries and storage, tighter US sanctions and a de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz that have reduced imports and export revenues.
- Unconfirmed Iranian media reports describe friction between the government and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over access to strategic reserves, and authorities say smuggling and logistics problems are worsening distribution.
- The disruption has pushed oil, diesel and gas prices higher, left European gas storage low for the season and raised the risk of higher transport and household energy costs this winter while Iranians face steep inflation and a weakening rial.