Iran has been unable to import enough petrol to make up for insufficient domestic production because of a US naval blockade, a senior Iranian official said.

“Petrol production is insufficient, and because of the US naval blockade, we cannot import it,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah as saying on Wednesday.

The remarks came as Iranians have in recent days queued outside petrol stations, with the war with the United States increasingly shifting towards economic pressure on Tehran.

On Monday, the Iranian president’s chief of staff Mohsen Haji-Mirzaei said petrol quotas would be reviewed, without elaborating.

War broke out between Iran and the United States on February 28. Tehran has since seized control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with Washington imposing a naval counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Ghaempanah criticised the distribution of highly subsidised fuel in Iran, saying the current system disproportionately benefits people who own multiple vehicles.

“The distribution of petrol in the country is inequitable. Owners of several vehicles benefit from subsidies, unlike those who do not own one,” he said.

Iran, a major oil producer with some of the world’s cheapest fuel, has for years heavily subsidised petrol, making any changes to pricing politically sensitive.