Iran has been slapped with numerous international sanctions over its nuclear programme [Getty]
Iran has ordered schools and public buildings in a third of the country’s provinces, including Tehran, to close on Saturday, as several power plants remain shut down by fuel shortages.
Despite Iran’s huge oil and gas reserves, the country hit by years of international sanctions has been forced to ration electricity in recent months as sub-zero temperatures have prompted a surge in demand that its ageing power stations have been unable to meet.
The closures ordered on Friday include the capital Tehran as well as the Shia Muslim shrine city of Qom, Kurdistan in the west and Mazandaran and Ardabil on the Caspian coast.
The decision was taken “because of the cold and to manage electricity consumption,” the official IRNA news agency said.
Iran already ordered similar closures late last year after rolling blackouts plunged homes and businesses into darkness in November.
Government offices in Tehran were closed for four straight days in December and school children ordered to stay home across more than half of the country.
The crisis in Iran comes as the country prepares for a second Trump presidency which could see the new economic sanctions and military pressure against the country over its nuclear programme, dubbed ‘maximum pressure 2.0’.Â
Such a campaign has seen some speculate that the end of the Iran’s Islamic Republic is near, including former Secretary of State under Trump Mike Pompeo.
As a result, Iran has been undergoing extensive military drills across the country, set to last until March, in response to what a spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said were “new security threats”.
