Iran announced the closure of offices and schools in many provinces across the country on Sunday due to a cold snap and energy shortages, according to state media.
Iran is an energy giant, with the world's second-largest reserves of natural gas, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
However, the country has been forced to ration electricity in recent weeks due to a shortage of gas and fuel to power its plants.
Schools and public offices were closed in the northern provinces of Gilan, Golestan, and Ardabil, as well as Alborz, located west of the capital Tehran, "due to the cold weather and in order to manage fuel consumption," the official news agency IRNA reported.
The report added that similar measures were taken in several other provinces, including Tehran and Mazandaran in the north, Kermanshah in the west, Ghazvin in the center, and South Khorasan in the east.
In recent days, unexpected power cuts have affected several provinces, as well as the capital Tehran, leading to frustration among citizens.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday urged citizens to lower their heating by "two degrees" to save energy, as part of a campaign promoted by his government.
Iran was the world's seventh-largest producer of crude oil in 2022 and has the third-largest proven reserves, behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
However, Iran's electricity grid suffers from a lack of investment in infrastructure, partly due to Western sanctions.
In July, authorities ordered government institutions to halve working hours for several days to save energy during a heatwave.
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