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On September 9, 2015, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, prophesied that the State of Israel “would cease to exist in the next 25 years”.
Two years after this declaration, the Iranian government set up a “doomsday clock†in Tehran’s Palestine Square as part of its annual Al-Quds Day celebrations, which counted the days until 2040 until the Jewish state was supposedly destroyed.
Last week, a rolling power outage caused the watch to lose power, run out of power and, presumably, delayed Israel’s inevitable doom.
“Perhaps instead of focusing on developing nuclear weapons, they should focus on developing renewable energies,” said Israeli UN Ambassador Danny Danon expressed helpful.
Iran faced persistent power outages throughout the summer of 2021. A severe drought in the country has resulted in a lack of hydropower. The Islamic Republic’s aging power grid is difficult to maintain without international investment, something that has so far been prevented by US and European sanctions. Population growth in Iran has meant that the existing electricity grid is no longer able to meet the needs of all of its people. Perhaps most importantly, a severe heat wave has increased the use of air conditioning (A / C) and other energy-intensive cooling methods.
Iran’s only commercial nuclear reactor in the southern city of Bandar Bushehr went offline for a short time last month after a generator failure, although it has since resumed operations.
Since Iran produces most of its electricity cheaply from domestic oil and gas production, Iran has one of the lowest electricity tariffs in the world. Over the past few years, the country has used its comparative advantage in this area to mine Bitcoin and help the regime avoid international sanctions. However, the government banned the practice in early 2021 to conserve energy.
All sectors in Iran are affected by the blackouts, including traffic lights, telecommunications, utilities such as water pumps and businesses. In response to excess demand, the Iranian government implemented a rolling power outage system that sparked street protests and a public apology from outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, who will take office in early August, has stressed the importance of diversifying Iran’s energy sources and modernizing its electricity grid. However, it is unclear whether the ambitious goals of Raisi’s economic plan are realistically achievable during his upcoming term in office.
Trevor Filseth is a current and foreign affairs writer for The national interest.
Image: Reuters
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