One of the "upshots" of a totalitarian government is the ability make radical policy changes very quickly. This may occasionally result in the violent overthrow of your government, but that's the risk you generally take when the options are "violent overthrow" or "business as usual." One imagines elections let off some of this pressure.
Last week, the government of Iran announced sharp fuel rationing, resulting in much public complaint and a number of riots.
This week, the government of Iran announced that within two weeks they'll stop making gasoline-only cars, instead switching over to dual-fuel vehicles that can run on both gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). This is so obviously an unworkable schedule, it's hard to see why "two weeks" was chosen, rather than a realistic-sounding time frame.
"The automobiles which have been supplied to the market prior to this will gradually be converted to dual fuel too," Mr Tahmasebi added.
Last year, some 1,150,000 vehicles were manufactured in Iran.
The BBC's Jon Leyne in Tehran says the move will reduce demand for petrol and could help ease the capital's notorious pollution.
But it is not clear the infrastructure is in place yet, either to produce enough gas or to provide enough filling stations, our correspondent says.
Notice how that's over a million vehicles manufactured last year alone? There are a lot of vehicles needing conversion, not to mention the need to rebuild fueling centers, and so forth.
The thing to watch in the coming months is whether this gradually transitions into a realistic policy, or joins the ranks of many other totalitarian train wrecks of days past.