Iranian media report that schools and government offices in more than half of the country’s provinces will be closed on Saturday, January 11.
At least 21 provinces, including Tehran, will be shut down. The state-run IRNA news agency cited air pollution and energy consumption management as the reasons for these closures.
Since the shutdown will disrupt university exams, the Ministry of Science issued a statement allowing universities to decide when to reschedule them.
According to reports in Iranian media, the “Energy Consumption Management Task Force” in several provinces has decided to close schools and government offices on Saturday.
A Tehran provincial official told IRNA that due to air pollution, schools and universities in the province will operate remotely, and banks in Tehran will be closed.
Meanwhile, the deputy for urban affairs in Alborz province told IRNA that air pollution was the reason for the shutdown while stressing that “all heating and lighting systems in facilities must be turned off.”
However, the governor of Khorasan Razavi province told the same news agency that the decision to close the province was made “to address energy imbalances and reduce fuel consumption.”
In this context, Gholamreza Koushki, the head of Iran’s National Gas Management Center said in an interview with state radio on Thursday that gas consumption in the country reached 650 million cubic meters at the beginning of the week.
Koushki added that this level of consumption persisted through Wednesday.
Ahmad Mahdavi, theSecretary-General of the Petrochemical Employers Association, announced last week that, amid Iran’s ongoing energy crisis, gas supply to 12 petrochemical plants has been cut off.
Speaking at an official event on January 4, Mahdavi criticized the Oil Ministry, stating that although investment in the sector is a key solution to energy imbalances, “investment agreements for upstream gas projects in the petrochemical industry have yet to be signed and finalized.”
The state-run Tasnim News Agency, which is close to the IRGC, reported in early December that out of 600 power plants, at least 80 had gone offline due to a shortage or complete lack of gas and liquid fuel.
Iran’s domestic power plants have a total capacity of 58,000 megawatts, but the shutdown of these facilities has reduced output by 8,000 megawatts—approximately 14% of the total capacity.
