Iran's regime scrambles as the country faces energy crisis after gas pipeline attack: Report

Amid the growing tensions in the Middle East, reports are emerging that Iran is witnessing an energy crisis which has left its leadership scrambling to find a solution. Last week, Iranian schools and government institutions were forced to close their doors last week due to the widespread power outages.

While the country is suffering from power outages, the regime is turning out to be ill-equipped to deal with the crisis. The energy crisis in Iran has been exacerbated by harsh winter conditions, and severe cold, snow and air pollution have added to the woes of an energy sector unable to deal with seasonal surges due to years of underinvestment and sanctions.

On Saturday, The New York Times reported that one other factor that has contributed to the dire state of Iran’s energy supplies was a pair of attacks on major gas pipelines back in February. The attack was attributed to Israel.

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How the attack paralysed the country’s energy sector

The attacks disrupted the flow of gas to millions of people across Iran and caused widespread shortages across five separate provinces. As per the Times report, the Iranian government attempted to minimize the impact of the damage caused due to the attacks on the gas pipeline.

Amid the chaos, Tehran is now dipping into emergency gas reserves and depleting energy supply. Despite Iran’s vast natural gas and oil reserves, it is still struggling to replenish its resources. NYT argued that Iran’s inability to bounce back from the crisis is due to several problems, including “mismanagement, corruption, and cheap prices that fuel wasteful consumption.”

Apart from this, heavy sanctions placed on Iran’s nuclear program by the West are also hindering its process to modernise its energy sector. Tehran has maintained that its nuclear program is “peaceful,” despite the fact that it involves uranium enrichment to near weapons-grade levels, beyond civilian necessity.

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While Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA said that the country had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003. Meanwhile, Israel has maintained that Iran never truly abandoned the program.

While Iran’s regime is yet to admit that the country is facing an energy crisis, all the evidence indicates that the attack on Iran’s gas pipelines hit the country significantly.

With inputs from agencies.