TEHRAN: Primary schools will be closed on Monday in Tehran as thick fog caused by pollution smothers the Iranian capital and most of the surrounding province, local authorities said.
They also announced Sunday they would impose traffic restrictions in Tehran, home to 8.5 million inhabitants, allowing cars onto the streets in alternating shifts, depending on their number plates.
Similar measures were taken in December when primary schools in Tehran and most of its province were forced to close for several days because of the pollution.
Average concentrations of the finest and most hazardous airborne particles hit 144 microgrammes per cubic meter in Tehran on Sunday and peaked at 169 in some areas, municipal authorities said.
That is far above the World Health Organization’s recommended maximum of 25 microgrammes per cubic meter on average over a 24-hour period.
The microscopic particles lodge deep in the lungs and are harmful to human health.
Local authorities urged the most vulnerable people — children, pregnant women, the elderly and those suffering from heart problems — to remain indoors.
Every year, Iran’s sprawling capital suffers some of the worst pollution in the world when cool temperatures cause an effect known as temperature inversion.
The phenomenon creates a layer of warm air above the city that traps in the pollution produced by more than eight million cars and motorbikes.
This year the situation has been exacerbated as the country has seen very little rainfall.
Iranian media reports say 80 percent of the pollution in Tehran is caused by fumes from vehicle exhaust pipes.
High pollution shuts schools in Tehran
High pollution shuts schools in Tehran
Vessel struck off Oman’s Muscat, UKMTO says
DUBAI: A vessel was struck on Sunday by an unknown projectile 50 nautical miles north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
The attack resulted in a fire in the vessel’s engine room that has been brought under control, UKMTO added.
It is the second incident the agency reports on Sunday after reporting an incident off Oman’s Kumzar in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television said Sunday that an oil tanker was sinking after it was struck while attempting to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The incident took place as Iran exchanged strikes with the United States and Israel, who launched an attack Saturday that killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader.
“The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking,” state TV reported, without elaborating.
It carried footage showing heavy black smoke emanating from the burning tanker at sea.
The strait carries a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of all liquified natural gas.
On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had warned that the vital waterway was unsafe due to US and Israeli attacks and was therefore closed to ships.
