One person has been killed in the Iranian city of Sirjan during overnight protests against a decision by authorities to ration and increase the price of petrol by at least 50 percent.
"Unfortunately someone was killed," the central city's acting Governor Mohammad Mahmoudabadi was quoted as saying by the semi-official news agency ISNA. He said the cause of the death and whether "the individual was shot or not" was still unclear, adding that other people were wounded in the demonstrations on Friday night.
After months of speculation, authorities announced in the early hours of Friday that petrol will now be rationed across the country using smart fuel cards.
Vehicles for private use are to be restricted to 60 litres (16gal) of fuel monthly, while the price of petrol will jump 50 percent to 15,000 Iranian rials ($0.13 at open market rates) a litre. Any fuel purchases in excess of allotted rations will incur an additional charge of 30,000 rials ($0.26) a litre.
The moves prompted fears of households facing further economic pressure in a country whose economy is forecast to shrink by 9.5 percent this year.
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