Masoud Mirkazemi, Iran's oil minister has asked the government to approve raising domestic gas prices by 10 times to curb the country's spiralling consumption, Meed has reported. The government is hoping an increase to almost $0.1 a cubic metre would save the government some $17bn from wasteful consumption patterns. "To deal with this problem, I proposed to increase the price of gas to at least IR900-1,000 (almost $0.1) a cubic metre," Mirkazemi was quoted as saying by Mehr news agency. Consumers currently pay IR170 for a cubic metre of gas.