TEHRAN: Iranian authorities ordered many government offices to close on Wednesday in a bid to cut power consumption as a heatwave strains generating capacity, state media reported.
At least 15 of Iran's 31 provinces will see public offices either shut or operating on reduced hours, the official IRNA news agency said.
Provinces affected include West Azerbaijan and Ardabil in the northwest, Hormozgan in the south, and Alborz in the north, as well as the capital Tehran.
Tehran governor Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian said the closures came at the request of the energy ministry and were intended to "manage energy consumption in the water and electricity sectors", state television said.
Emergency and frontline services will remain open, it added.
Elevated temperatures that began in mid-July have strained Iran's power grid, prompting rolling blackouts nationwide as temperatures topped 50C in the south.
Authorities in Tehran have also reduced mains water pressure to manage falling reservoir levels, as the country endures what Iranian media have described as the worst drought in a century.
Iran orders office closures as heatwave strains power grid
https://arab.news/6atmy
Iran orders office closures as heatwave strains power grid
- Temperatures topped 50C in the south
Syria welcomes lifting of US sanctions
- A foreign ministry statement in Damascus “welcomed” the step
- It urged “all Syrians in the country and abroad to contribute in national recovery efforts“
DAMASCUS: Syria’s foreign ministry on Friday welcomed the permanent ending by the United States of the so-called Caesar sanctions, paving the way for the return of investment to the war-ravaged nation.
The US Congress on Wednesday permanently ended the sanctions imposed on Syria under Bashar Assad, who was ousted in December last year.
The Caesar Act, named after an anonymous photographer who documented atrocities in Assad’s prisons, severely restricted investment and cut off Syria from the international banking system.
A foreign ministry statement in Damascus “welcomed” the step, calling it “an entrance to the phase of reconstruction and development.” It urged “all Syrians in the country and abroad to contribute in national recovery efforts.”
US President Donald Trump had already twice suspended the implementation of sanctions against Syria in response to pleas from Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, allies of the new government headed by former jihadist Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
But Sharaa had sought a permanent end to the sanctions, fearing that as long as the measures remained on the books they would deter businesses wary of legal risks in the United States, the world’s largest economy.
