Iran’s fuel rationing system reaches breaking point with hours-long lines, protests on eve of ‘Bloody November’

Detailed summary

In Ardabil in the north, footage shows taxi drivers parking their cars in protest, leaving passengers stranded as they refuse to pick them up.

Motorists across Iran were trapped in grueling hours-long lines at gas stations and taxi drivers took to the streets in protest Saturday, as the state’s fuel rationing system reached a breaking point — hours before the infamous anniversary of “Bloody November.”

In one video shared on Telegram, drivers at a gas station in the southern city of Kazeroun are heard shouting in anger about the fuel shortages.

“To the officials: don’t mess with Kazeroun. This city has shown many times that it does not remain silent in the face of neglect and ignoring the demands of the people,” one Iranian Telegram account commented Saturday.

“These days, long queues at gas stations in Kazeroun have become one of the main concerns of the people.”

In other videos, lines of cars can be seen stretching for miles in southern Iranian cities that include Kazeroun, Bandar Abbas, Evaz and Lordegan.

In Ardabil in the north, footage shows taxi drivers parking their cars in protest, leaving passengers stranded as they refuse to pick them up.

Just after midnight on Nov. 15, 2019, Iran announced a dramatic price hike — from 10,000 to 15,000 rials per liter for the first 60 liters of gas a month, then 30,000 rials after that — an increase of 50% and 300%, respectively, overnight.

Within hours, nationwide protests sparked, with Iranians blocking highways with their cars, burning banks and tearing down images of then Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

After a day of unrest, the iron-fisted Ayatollah told senior commanders to “do whatever it takes to end it,” resulting in one of the deadliest crackdowns in the Islamic Republic’s hardline history.

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