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A severe heatwave sweeping Iran has disrupted water and electricity supplies in much of the country, with reservoir levels falling to their lowest in a century, state media said Tuesday.Extreme temperatures, which began on Friday, are expected to ease gradually by Thursday, according to meteorological authorities cited by state television. Government offices in at least 15 of Iran’s 31 provinces, including the capital Tehran, have been ordered to close on Wednesday in a bid to conserve water and electricity.The measure come as temperatures in parts of southern and southwestern Iran topped 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).Government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said authorities would extend office closures “if it deems necessary”, while warning of the “critical situation” in Tehran regarding water supplies.At least 10 provincial capitals recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius on Monday, including Tehran, the meteorological agency said.The heatwave has been accompanied by drought, with the capital experiencing its lowest rainfall in 60 year, according to the Tehran Provincial Water Supply Company.Water levels in the reservoirs which supply Tehran have fallen to “their lowest level in a century”, the company said, advising people to use a tank and pump to cope with mains disruption.Tehran provincial governor, Mohammad Sadegh Motamedian said the dams are only filled to 14 percent, adding that the capital is going through its fifth year of drought.- ‘Crisis’ -Many residents reported water supply cuts lasting several hours in the past few days.”It’s not just the heat — there’s also no electricity and no water,” said Ms. Moini, a 52-year-old housewife from Tehran, who only gave her family name.”Our whole lives have basically fallen apart.”President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday that “the water crisis is more serious than people are saying”.Many Iranian newspapers carried photographs of the low reservoir levels on their front pages on Tuesday. In Iran’s hottest provincial capital, Ahvaz in Khuzestan in the southwest, residents complained that scheduled power cuts had continued despite temperatures nearing 50°C on Monday.In Tehran, drivers were forced to stop to prevent their radiators overheating in temperatures exceeding 40°C.According to the Fars news agency, the Tehran Provincial Water Supply Company plans to distribute drinking water in plastic bags if the mains supply cuts continue.While heatwaves are not uncommon in Iran, last July the government ordered banks and public institutions to close amid soaring temperatures.At the time, officials said electricity consumption had reached a record high of over 79,000 megawatts.

Amnesty International on Tuesday called for a war crimes investigation into Israel’s deadly air attack on Tehran’s Evin prison during last month’s 12-day war.The strike, confirmed by Israel, killed 79 people, according to a provisional tally by Iranian authorities.It also destroyed part of the administrative building in Evin, a large, heavily fortified complex in the north of Tehran, which rights groups say holds political prisoners and foreign nationals.Amnesty International, an international non-governmental organisation that campaigns to protect human rights, called the Israeli attack “deliberate” and “a serious violation of international humanitarian law”.The air strikes should therefore be “criminally investigated as war crimes”, it said.”The Israeli military carried out multiple air strikes on Evin prison, killing and injuring scores of civilians and causing extensive damage and destruction in at least six locations across the prison complex,” Amnesty said, basing its assessment on what it said were verified video footage, satellite images and witness statements.There was nothing to suggest that Evin prison could justifiably be seen as a “legal military objective”, it said.The strike on Evin was part of a bombardment campaign Israel launched on Iranian targets on June 13 with the stated aim of stopping the Islamic republic from acquiring nuclear weapon capabilities.The victims of the June 23 attack included administrative staff, guards, prisoners and visiting relatives, as well as people living nearby. Between 1,500 and 2,000 prisoners were being held at the time in the prison.Among them were Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French nationals arrested three years ago accused of espionage.They were not injured in the attack, their families said, and have since been transferred to a different location.France, and other western governments, consider them and others to be “hostages” taken by the Iranian authorities for leverage in negotiations.

Swapping his monk’s habit for overalls and a sun hat, Father Christian-Marie knelt alongside volunteers in the freshly dug earth, planting grape vines to replace those damaged by wildfires that swept through central Israel earlier this year.Wine production at Latrun monastery dates back 135 years, when the French monks first arrived. Cultivating fruit is central to both their spiritual practice and livelihood.The monks say the wildfires that broke out in late April damaged about five hectares (12 acres) of vineyard — roughly a third of their crop.Undeterred, the monks called for help, drawing dozens of volunteers who busied themselves digging holes and planting stakes under the blazing sun.Father Christian-Marie, who has spent almost 28 years at the monastery, said planting fresh vines symbolised optimism for the future.”For me, it’s quite important when I live here in this monastery to pray for peace,” he told AFP.”To plant a vineyard is a sign of hope, because if we thought that tomorrow the land will be bombed and will not exist, we wouldn’t do this work,” he added.Working in a pensive hush, volunteers carried trays of sapling vines to be planted in long rows in a patch of the monastery’s land untouched by the flames.Robed monks handed out stakes and delicately pressed the plants into the earth.”Planting is something exciting, you plant and it will grow. It will give fruit, and the fruit will give wine. And wine will make the heart of the human happy,” said Noga Eshed, 74, a volunteer from Tel Aviv.For her, the exercise signified a reconnection with nature.”I see people touching the ground, the earth. And it’s not very common. We are very disconnected these days,” she added, trowel in hand.Eshed, who has volunteered at the monastery on previous occasions, said the brothers there were “good friends”.Latrun’s monks are Trappists, a Roman Catholic order centred on contemplation and simplicity.- ‘In God’s hands’ -Fanned by high temperatures and strong winds, wildfires spread rapidly through wooded areas along the main Jerusalem–Tel Aviv highway on April 30.The flames travelled right up to the edge of Latrun monastery, prompting the evacuation of the 20 or so brothers who live there.”It was very hard because we are not used to getting out of our monastery and we have some very old brothers,” Brother Athanase told AFP.The monks initially feared it had burned down, he added, but the monastery was spared although swathes of its agricultural land were destroyed.As well as vineyards, Latrun has around 5,000 olive trees, of which roughly 1,000 were entirely burnt down to the root in the blaze.Brother Athanase estimated that around 70 percent of the olive trees were in some way damaged and would take around four years to recover.Last year the monastery produced three tonnes of olive oil, but “there’ll be no production this year”, he said.”It’s difficult for us because we are living off our production… but we are not afraid because life is always growing up,” he added with a slight smile, surrounded by scorched earth.He was grateful for the assistance provided by the volunteers and said it was important “to know that people like monks in the Holy Land”.Climate change is driving up temperatures, decreasing precipitation and increasing the frequency of extreme weather events in Israel.Standing in the newly planted vineyard, Father Alois said he hoped the monastery would not face a blaze as devastating in the future but that the monks were now better prepared after installing a new water system.Ultimately, he said, “we are in God’s hands”.

Deep in the mountains of Turkey’s southeastern Hakkari province, bordering Iran and Iraq, Kurdish livestock owners and farmers have gradually returned with their animals after decades of armed conflict between Kurdish militants and the Turkish army.”We’ve been coming here for a long time. Thirty years ago we used to come and go, but then we couldn’t come. Now we just started to come again and to bring our animals as we want,” said 57-year-old Selahattin Irinc, speaking Kurdish, while gently pressing his hand on a sheep’s neck to keep it from moving during shearing.On July 11 a symbolic weapons destruction ceremony in Iraqi Kurdistan marked a major step in the transition of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) from armed insurgency to democratic politics — part of a broader effort to end one of the region’s longest-running conflicts.The PKK, listed as a terror group by Turkey and much of the international community, was formed in 1978 by Ankara University students, with the ultimate goal of achieving the Kurds’ liberation. It took up arms in 1984.The conflict has caused 50,000 deaths among civilians and 2,000 among soldiers, according to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Alongside with several other men and women, Irinc practices animal husbandry in the grassy highlands at the foot of the Cilo Mountains and its Resko peak, which stands as the second-highest in the country with an altitude of 4,137 meters (13,572 feet).A place of scenic beauty, with waterfalls, glacial lakes and trekking routes, Cilo has gradually opened its roads over the past few years to shepherds and tourists alike as the armed conflict with PKK died down on the backdrop of peace negotiations.But the picturesque mountains had long been the scene of heavy fighting between the Turkish army and PKK fighters who took advantage of the rough terrain to hide and strike. It left the Kurdish farmers often at odds with the army. “In the past we always had problems with the Turkish soldiers. They accused us of helping PKK fighters by feeding them things like milk and meat from our herd,” another Kurdish livestock owner, who asked not to be named, told AFP, rejecting such claims. “Now it’s calmer,” he added.- ‘Last generation’ -Although the peace process brought more openness and ease to the region, tensions did not vanish overnight. Checkpoints remain present around the city of Hakkari, and also to the main access point to the trekking path leading to Cilo glacier, a major tourist attraction.”Life is quite good and it’s very beautiful here. Tourists come and stay in the mountains for one or two days with their tents, food, water and so on,” said farmer Mahir Irinc.But the mountains are a hard, demanding environment for those making a living in their imposing shadow, and the 37-year-old thinks his generation might be the last to do animal husbandry far away from the city.”I don’t think a new generation will come after us. We will be happy if it does, but the young people nowadays don’t want to raise animals, they just do whatever job is easier,” he lamented.An open truck carrying more than a dozen Kurdish women made its way to another farm in the heart of the mountains, where sheep waited to be fed and milked. The livestock graze at the foot of the mountains for three to four months, while the weather is warm, before being brought back to the village.”We all work here. Mothers, sisters, our whole family. Normally I’m preparing for university, but today I was forced to come because my mother is sick,” explained 22-year-old Hicran Denis.”I told my mother: don’t do this anymore, because it’s so tiring. But when you live in a village, livestock is the only work. There’s nothing else,” she said.