Deadly weather paralyzes Iran

The worst snowfalls in decades have paralyzed the Iranian capital Tehran for the fourth day in a row, according to a local media report. At least eight people froze to death and another 20 were killed in weather-related road accidents. Cuts in gas supplies to around 20 towns across the nation have brought them to a virtual standstill.

 

The high demand for gas, combined with a sudden halt in Turkmenistan's gas exports to Iran, has created a temporary shortage of gas. Iran has therefore suspended its own export of gas to Turkey, which relies heavily on Iranian gas.

 

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated on Tuesday that he would ask Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad to restore the flow of natural gas to Turkey, Turkish daily Zaman reported.

 

The lowest temperature overnight was measured in Shahre Kord in Western Iran, where temperatures fell to minus 24 degrees Celsius (minus 11 Fahrenheit). The capital Tehran registered minus seven degrees Celsius (19 degrees Fahrenheit), the state television reported.

 

The Iranian government announced that the “drop in temperatures and gas pressure" would force all state offices and schools to remain closed until Thursday, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

 

And in southwestern Iran, the dunes of the Kavir-e Lut desert were for the first time in living memory covered in a dusting of snow, IRNA added.