Iran’s capital, surrounding province will shut for a day due to heat wave

A man crosses an intersection on a hot summer day in downtown Tehran, Iran, Monday, July 21, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 21 July 2025
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Iran’s capital, surrounding province will shut for a day due to heat wave

  • With temperatures in the capital exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), the government has advised citizens to stay indoors during peak heat hours

TEHRAN: Iranian government offices, banks and businesses in the capital province of Tehran will shut down on Wednesday due to an intense heat wave and the need to conserve energy, state-run media reported.
With temperatures in the capital exceeding 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), the government has advised citizens to stay indoors during peak heat hours.
IRAN daily on Monday quoted government spokesperson Fatemeh MoHajjerani urging residents to take measures to reduce electricity and water consumption. The report said that all governmental offices, banks and businesses in Tehran province will be closed on Wednesday.
In July 2024, Iran ordered one-day national holiday due to high temperatures, following a two-day holiday in 2023.
Borazjan in southern Bushehr province was the hottest city in the last 24 hours with a maximum temperature of 50 C (122 F).


UN-sanctioned migrant smuggler killed in western Libya

A boat used by migrants is seen near the western town of Sabratha, Libya March 19, 2019. (REUTERS)
Updated 13 December 2025
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UN-sanctioned migrant smuggler killed in western Libya

  • In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers

CAIRO: A notorious militia leader in Libya, sanctioned by the UN for migrant trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea, was killed on Friday in a raid by security forces in the west of the country, according to Libyan authorities.
Ahmed Oumar Al-Fitouri Al-Dabbashi, nicknamed Ammu, was killed in the western city of Sabratha when security forces raided his hideout. The raid came in response to an attack on a security outpost by Al-Dabbashi’s militia, which left six members of the security forces severely wounded, according to a statement issued by the Security Threat Enforcement Agency, a security entity affiliated with Libya’s western government.
Al-Dabbashi, who was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for trafficking, was the leader of a powerful militia, the “Brigade of the Martyr Anas Al-Dabbashi,” in Sabratha, the biggest launching point in Libya for Europe-bound African migrants.
Al-Dabbashi’s brother Saleh Al-Dabbashi, another alleged trafficker, was arrested in the same raid, added the statement.
In June 2018, the UN Security Council imposed sanctions on Al-Dabbashi, along with another five Libyan traffickers. At the time, the UN report said that there was enough evidence that Al-Dabbashi’s militia controlled departure areas for migrants, camps, safe houses and boats.
Al-Dabbashi himself exposed migrants, including children, to “fatal circumstances” on land and at sea, and of threatening peace and stability in Libya and neighboring countries, according to the same report.
Al-Dabbashi was also sanctioned by the US Treasury for the same reason.
Libya has been a main transit point for migrants fleeing war and poverty in Africa and the Middle East. The country was plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.
The country has been fragmented for years between rival administrations based in the east and the west of Libya, each backed by various armed militias and foreign governments.