A fresh wave of power outages across Iran has hit the population hard as temperatures continue to soar, registering 40 degrees Celsius in Tehran. Protests against officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, erupted across the capital.
After Tehran and its suburb, Karaj city, fell into darkness due to an eight-hour unannounced power cut stretched from Sunday evening to Monday dawn, people gathered in front of electricity circuit buildings in several Iranian governorates to protest the blackouts.
The power cut had cut off water supplies in condominiums, perished the food stored in fridges, and crashed electrical appliances, the state-run news agency ISNA reported.
Mohammad Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker, appeared to criticize the government’s policies this week with a Twitter post about how the “frequent power outages throughout the country and disruption of people’s lives and businesses require planning and management.”
“If the increase in consumption and excess demand is not compensated in the short term for any reason, at least stick to the announced blackout schedule so that people can plan for problems,” he tweeted.
In Tehran, people in darkness were shouting slogans like “death to the dictator” and “death to Khamenei.”
“Nour News,” the media mouthpiece of the Supreme National Security Council, tried to ease public rage about the frequent power cuts during the summer heat by recognizing the people’s discontent and confusion.
“In recent days, the unannounced power outage, in conjunction with water cuts in some areas, has caused confusion and discontent among people,” said the agency.
However, Nour News moved on to attack media outlets based abroad for trying to “politicize” the ongoing power crisis and justified the blackout by blaming it on summer heatwaves striking earlier this year.
“The power cuts can be traced back to the drought, lower production at stations, and higher consumption rates driven up by early rising in temperatures,” reported the agency.
