According to President.ir, Dr. Rouhani, addressing the government cabinet on Sunday, said Iranian motorists had consumed an average of 97 million liters of petrol on a daily basis in the current calendar year, which began on March 21. This would render the county an importer of the strategic item by 2021 if not controlled, he said.

The price of petrol has increased from Rls. 10,000 per liter to Rls. 15,000/l on Friday. A quota of 60 liters per month has been allocated to the Iranian citizens at this price; consumers of more petrol will be charged Rls. 30,000/l.

The president said the revenues generated by the increased petrol prices were to be used for supporting lower-income households in the country.

Iran is severely targeted by unjust US sanctions which have caused economic troubles for the nation.

The increased prices have triggered unrest in several Iranian cities since Friday.

In 2013, petrol production was at 56 ml/d which has reached 107 ml/d which means the country is self-sufficient in production of the item, Rouhani said.

The Iranian President also said that consumption of petrol in Iran was higher than the global average.