Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested holding a referendum to approve subsidy cuts that the Islamic republic's parliament has repeatedly blocked, a news agency said on Saturday. Parliament this month passed a state budget for the next Iranian year starting March 21 that did not contain radical cuts in subsidies sought by Ahmadinejad.
Delegates had said the cuts could stoke inflation, while analysts say they could also provoke unrest in a country already plagued by tension after street protests by opponents of Ahmadinejad over the past year. Any such referendum could risk more unrest. "The solution is to ask people if they want this law to be implemented or not and to hold a referendum on this issue," Ahmadinejad said in an interview on state television on Friday evening and carried on state news agency IRNA.
"We should not require the government to do something that hurts people. The government would not do anything that hurts the people ... Scaring people over implementing a subsidy bill that is a necessary reform is treacherous." The government proposed saving $40 billion by reforming the Islamic republic's costly subsidy system but parliament only approved half of that amount. The Guardian Council signed off the budget last week.