The report cited multiple reasons for the situation,
including the sanctions imposed on Iran and an Israeli strike on the Islamic
Republic.
According
to the NYT, citing an official from the country's Petroleum Ministry and
Hamid Hosseini, a member of the Chamber of Commerce’s energy committee, a
covert Israeli attack last February, which struck two gas pipes belonging
to the Islamic Republic, forced the country to use its emergency gas reserves.
Now, Iran reportedly faces a deficit of some 350 million
cubic meters a day, with demands surging with the onset of winter.
“We are facing very dire imbalances in gas, electricity,
energy, water, money, and environment,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian
said in a televised speech earlier in December, according to the NYT.
Hosseini told the NYT that the country was
attempting to “contain the damage because this is like a ‘powder keg’ that can
explode and create unrest across the country.”
Chief of the Islamic Republic's Coordination Council of
Industries Mehdi Bostanchi labeled the situation "catastrophic,"
according to the NYT.
According to him, the recent week's deficit could cut
production in the country by 30% to 50%, costing it billions of dollars.
“Naturally, the damages from the widespread and abrupt power
outage that has lasted all week will be extremely serious for industries,”
Bostanchi reportedly noted.
