Reza Sayah:

It's impossible for us to say why authorities decided that this was the best time to raise gas prices at a time when many working-class Iranians are suffering so much and under so much pressure.

But we can tell you that many Iranian officials and Iranian analysts have long said that raising gas prices is the right thing to do for Iran's economy.

Remember, Iran's gas prices have long been heavily subsidized. They're some of the cheapest in the world, running about 50 cents per gallon. And officials here say that has led to high consumption and heavy smuggling, and something had to be done.

But the fact that they decided to do it now is perhaps an indication of how much the economy is struggling, to a point where authorities had to take a desperate measure, where there was a backlash.

Then came the Trump administration, who pulled out of the nuclear deal, reimposed new sanctions. There was never any foreign investment that came into Iran. Oil sales went down significantly. There was inflation, a devaluation of currency, unemployment.

And that, many say, led to the government perhaps making that drastic measure of raising fuel prices. So, again, many people argue that the U.S. sanctions that had a huge role in what happened last week, but, also, many people argue that it's these U.S. sanctions that are hurting average Iranians, and not impacting the government.

And we can also tell you that, when the protests happened, many groups both inside and outside Iran tried to take over the narrative. The hard-liners here blamed the moderates on the rising fuel prices. The moderates blamed the hard-liners.

And, in D.C., the Trump administration and the Iran hawks said the protest and the rising fuel prices were evidence that the U.S. sanctions were working. And on the other hand, the moderate observers of Iran said that the protests and the rising gas prices were an indication that the sanctions were only impacting average Iranians, and the fact that the government is still in power was proof that the sanctions were not working.