Iran has shut down offices, banks, and the stock exchange for two days because of “unprecedented heat” and told the elderly and people with health conditions to stay indoors, Iranian state media reported. It also urged citizens to conserve electricity, with the government changing summer working hours in June so employees start earlier to reduce electricity consumption during the hot season.
The move comes as soaring temperatures threaten to deplete water supplies and trigger widespread health issues, including heatstroke. Climate change also exacerbates the crisis, with scientists saying the world has already warmed more than 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) in the last century, the fastest pace on record.
Government spokesman Ali Bahadori Jahromi said Wednesday and Thursday would be public holidays, and hospitals were put on high alert. “We hope that everyone will follow the health ministry’s advice and be safe,” he said on state TV.
Many cities in southern Iran have already suffered from days of exceptional heat. In the oil-rich province of Sistan and Baluchistan, authorities have told residents to take precautions in their homes and stay indoors until 4 p.m. Residents have been using bottled water and buying ice to keep cool.
In Ahvaz, a provincial capital in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, sweltering temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). The temperature there is expected to remain the same on Tuesday and Wednesday.
According to government reports, The soaring temperatures threaten to deplete the country’s water resources and trigger widespread health issues, including heatstroke. The soaring temperatures are also causing glaciers to melt on mountains that supply much of the country’s freshwater, further straining the ecosystem.
Across the internet, users have posted pictures of the intense heat and called on authorities to do more to protect citizens. The government has restricted access to tens of thousands of websites, blocking those of international news services, political opposition groups, religious minorities, and human rights organizations. It has also blocked social media apps and banned online messaging tools such as Telegram in the past, most recently during the November 2019 protests over a water shortage.
In March, authorities transferred worker-rights activist Atena Daemi from Evin Prison to Rasht Central Prison, far from her family, to pressure her into dropping a hunger strike to protest prison conditions. In 2020, authorities arbitrarily extended her five-year sentence for insulting the supreme leader.
Activists and journalists say the harsh treatment of Daemi is part of a broader crackdown on freedoms. In another development, IranWire reports that authorities rearrested journalist and workers’ rights advocate Amirabbas Azarmvand on Monday and relocated him to Ward 209 of Evin Prison. He had written economic and labor stories for several publications. He was previously arrested for work in 2009, 2017, and 2018. Authorities have not explained the new charges against him.
