Approving the sudden November 2019 fuel price hike without a parliamentary vote and shelving repeal bills
As Speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani sat on the three-branch council that approved the sudden November 2019 gasoline price hike without a parliamentary vote, sparking nationwide protests, an internet blackout and a deadly crackdown. Outlets reported that MPs sought to remove him, but he read out a secret warning from Ali Khamenei (@khamenei_fa) and shelved repeal bills.
Editorial timeline of public reporting, not a legal finding.
- Three-branch council including Larijani approves sudden fuel price hike without a parliamentary vote - BBC Persian and Al Jazeera reported that at midnight on November 15, 2019 authorities suddenly rationed gasoline and raised prices by 50 to 200 percent under a decision taken not by Parliament, as required for budget revenue changes, but by the Supreme Council of Economic Coordination of the Heads of Three Branches, comprising President Hassan Rouhani, Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi. The overnight hike triggered protests across dozens of cities, a near-total internet blackout and a lethal crackdown. اعتراضها به گران شدن بنزین؛ آنچه میدانیم در ده نکته
- MPs gather signatures to remove Larijani before Khamenei's secret warning halts repeal bills - BBC Persian reported that on November 17, 2019 MPs across factions criticized Larijani for not informing Parliament of the fuel decision, MP Mohammad Qasim Osmani submitted his resignation, and MP Mojtaba Zolnouri collected signatures under Article 24 of Parliament's rules to unseat Larijani. As later disclosed by Khamenei's website and reported by BBC Persian, Larijani read out a confidential message from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei (@khamenei_fa) in a closed session that day barring MPs from crossing Supreme National Security Council decisions, and two urgent bills to roll back the hike were pulled. تلاش برای استیضاح روحانی و برکناری لاریجانی در مجلس ایران
- Larijani defends the three-branch fuel decision and alignment with the Supreme Leader amid the crackdown - Al Jazeera, the Tehran Times and the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington reported that as security forces cracked down on the protests amid an internet blackout, Larijani said on November 18, 2019 that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's (@khamenei_fa) remarks backing the three-branch decision had 'set the path forward' and that MPs had accepted that direction. He defended the price hike as a way to fund cash transfers for 60 million people and urged the government to pay the handouts promptly and control prices. Unprepared: The Islamic Republic Confronts Fuel Protests
- Larijani responds to criticism of sidelining Parliament: its role is 'laying tracks after the Leader' - Radio Farda reported that at a December 1, 2019 press conference, responding to lawmakers' criticism that Parliament had been sidelined on the fuel hike despite Ayatollah Khomeini's maxim that 'Parliament is at the head of affairs', Larijani said that phrase did not mean Parliament should intervene and decide in all matters. He said Iran's highest authority is the Supreme Leader (@khamenei_fa), who sets the direction, and that 'Parliament's place is laying tracks after' him, while announcing he would not run for the Eleventh Parliament. لاریجانی: جایگاه مجلس ریلگذاری پس از رهبر است