Iranians Suffer Power Blackouts Amid War and Heatwave

Iranians are enduring widespread power blackouts, a consequence of the US-Israel war and a severe heatwave, which has plunged civilian infrastructure into darkness and disrupted daily life. For instance, 38 exams at Sharif University of Technology were postponed after servers went offline due to power outages.

Tehran City Council Chairman Mehdi Chamran attributed the blackouts to bombed electrical facilities. Mohammad Allahdad, CEO of the national electricity company, confirmed a 4,200-megawatt drop in grid capacity and damage to over 2,000 network points. US strikes on a power plant on Kish Island and damage to distribution networks in Bandar Abbas, Jask, and Chabahar have exacerbated technical failures caused by extreme heat.

Economics professor Bahman Arman noted a paradox: while major industrial consumers like Mobarakeh Steel Company and Khouzestan Steel are offline after US-Israeli air strikes, the bombing of the Mahshahr petrochemical complex has turned it from an energy surplus source into a deficit. Arman emphasized that chronic underinvestment, aging transmission lines, and a failure to build new plants are the root causes of the crisis.

The industrial sector is also suffering, with industrial zones facing four to six-hour blackouts daily. Hossein Selahvarzi, former head of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture, warned that this restricts production, increases costs, and hinders exports. According to Al Jazeera, the situation in Iran is dire, as the ravages of war meet decaying infrastructure.