TEHRAN, Dec 18 — Iranian authorities have turned off lights illuminating Tehran’s highways, an official has told state media, as the country enacts numerous fuel-saving measures amid a biting cold snap.

In recent days, the Islamic republic has ordered schools and public offices shut across the country as it is forced to ration electricity, despite having one of the world’s largest reserves of natural gas.

Alireza Rezaei, vice president of Tehran’s electricity company, told official news agency IRNA that highway lights had been turned off over the last two months to conserve fuel.

"Currently, we have blackouts on urban highways,” Rezaei told IRNA on Tuesday, adding that street lights were still working.

Despite safety concerns, the highway blackouts will continue "as long as there is an energy imbalance” and until fuel consumption nationwide is "managed”, he said.

Iran’s traffic police on Saturday warned that the blackouts could "cause an exponential increase in the number of accidents”.

Authorities in Tehran have also reduced the opening hours of malls and shopping centres as of Tuesday to battle the severe shortages.

According to state TV, 25 of Iran’s 31 provinces "experienced sub-zero degrees” overnight into Wednesday.

Energy giant 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.

But Iran’s electricity grid suffers from a lack of investment in infrastructure, partly due to Western sanctions.

Soaring demand in winter has further burdened the national grid.

In July, authorities ordered the working hours to be halved for several days in government institutions to save energy, that time in the middle of a heat wave.

Fuel prices in Iran are among the world’s lowest, and a surprise increase in 2019 sparked protests by angry citizens. — AFP