Mohammad-Jafar Ghaempanah made the remarks on Thursday at a meeting with Hormozgan Province officials. Stating that about 30 million liters of fuel are smuggled out of the country every day, he said: "This volume of smuggling does not come directly from refineries. Most of it is carried out through rented cards."

Noting that smuggling fuel between provinces with the same prices is not economically worthwhile, he added: "Smuggled fuel has to be moved to other countries. That is why Iran's energy subsidy is, in practice, reaching Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan today."

Pointing to the large gap between fuel prices in Iran and neighboring countries, the executive deputy said: "For example, a liter of gasoline in Pakistan costs about 260,000 tomans. So even smuggling a thousand liters of fuel is profitable for smugglers, and they are willing to take this fuel out of the country at any cost."

Preventing Smuggling by Organizing Fuel Consumption

Stressing the need to respond to the daily smuggling of 30 million liters of fuel, Ghaempanah said: "The decisions taken on fuel reorganization are based on this, and aim to counter smuggling and stop the country's subsidized resources from leaving."

Referring to the president's order to review the fuel situation in Hormozgan, he said: "Station free-use cards are being gradually collected across the country, and citizens use the fuel quota allocated to personal cards. Station cards have so far been collected in 11 provinces, and other provinces may be covered by this plan in the coming days and weeks."

The executive deputy named the unauthorized use of station free-use cards as the main cause of the fuel shortage. "In some cases these cards were handed to other people, and the fuel obtained through them was moved to other destinations," he said.

Describing the methods used to move fuel abroad, Ghaempanah said: "A large number of vehicles operate in this field, and their mission is to collect fuel from different provinces and move it to border areas to take it out of the country."

He said planning to reorganize fuel cards has begun with the cooperation of the responsible bodies. "The plan is being implemented gradually in different provinces to prevent fuel from being moved from one province to another," he added.

On measures for various occupational groups under the plan, the executive deputy said: "Efforts have also been made to set compensatory quotas for teachers, fishermen and medical staff, so that these groups do not face problems in obtaining the fuel they need."

Use of Alternative Fuels

Ghaempanah listed the expansion of alternative fuel use among the programs under way. "The infrastructure needed to use CNG and LPG has been provided so that these fuels can serve as a suitable substitute for the current fuel," he said. "These fuels are also of suitable quality."

Referring to Hormozgan's LPG production capacity, he said: "The province is itself an LPG producer, and this capacity can be used to supply the fuel needed and expand consumption of this product in the province."

The executive deputy announced a plan to increase the number of fuel stations in Hormozgan. "About 30 stations are due to be added to the province's fuel station capacity in the next week or two," he said.

Ghaempanah stressed the need to develop public transport in Hormozgan Province. "I am making the necessary follow-ups to further develop the province's public transport fleet, so that by strengthening this sector, services to the people improve," he said.