Iran announced petrol price hikes as high as 75 percent to take immediate effect Friday, in a long-awaited attempt to regulate energy prices in the country's flatlining, sanctions-hit economy.

The increases, which took effect at midnight, are part of the second phase of government plans to remove all energy subsidies. The cost of electricity and domestic gas went up by 25 percent earlier this year as part of the same programme.

Eight months after taking office, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has suffered his first major political defeat, with the public overwhelmingly brushing aside appeals to forgo direct government aid.

The 455,000-rial ($14, 10-euro) monthly handout scheme, initiated in December 2010 by Rouhani's predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is part of broader economic reforms aimed at overhauling the country's massive subsidy system.

A top Iranian official declared Wednesday that Afghanistan's presidential election was held fairly in a sign of progress for the country, despite final results being delayed because of fraud allegations.

The comments by Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy adviser to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, came after it was announced that the April 5 vote winner will be named Saturday, two days later than planned.

The families of men incarcerated in Tehran's notorious Evin prison protested Tuesday near the Iranian president's office, citing mistreatment of their loved ones, activists said.

The gathering came after reports of violence in the jail during an inspection of inmates at Section 350, which houses political prisoners.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stated that vacuum in the presidency is possible “should the other camp choose to obstruct the democratic process,” reported al-Jazeera television.

He said in an interview that will be aired on Monday night: “I do not fear security chaos should vacuum arise.”

The presidential elections in Lebanon could be postponed to September pending a number of regional and international developments, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Anba on Monday.

Concerned sources told the daily that Lebanon has to overcome three obstacles in order to be able to hold the polls.

Iran and world powers will resume technical talks next month in New York ahead of further negotiations on a lasting nuclear deal, a senior Iranian official said Saturday.

The talks will take place from May 5 to 9 on the sidelines of a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference that is to be held at the United Nations, deputy foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told the state broadcaster IRIB.

Iran's crude oil exports have hit 1.2 million barrels per day, almost doubling from eight months ago when the country elected a new president, a top government official said Friday.

Mansour Moazami, who holds the planning brief among the Islamic republic's five deputy oil ministers, said the numbers were 20 percent above forecasts and they would rise further.

A new report by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog has found that Iran is complying with the terms of a November interim deal calling for a partial nuclear freeze, diplomats said Thursday.

The diplomats, who had seen the monthly update by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told AFP everything was in order.

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will travel to Russia next week for a meeting of the countries that border the Caspian Sea, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"Mr. Zarif will arrive in Russia on Tuesday,' for the gathering of the Caspian Sea littoral states, Iran's ambassador to Russia, Mehdi Sanaei, wrote on his Facebook page.