Tehran, 1 August 2023 (dpa/MIA) — The Iranian government has declared Wednesday and Thursday national holidays due to an "unprecedented" heatwave that has sent temperatures soaring above 40 degrees in large parts of the country, the ISNA news agency reported.

Bank branches and judicial offices will be closed, while educational exams and football matches were cancelled. Hospitals were put on high alert, the agency reported.

The weather service warned of air pollution and sandstorms in the south of the country, where temperatures were forecast to climb above 50 degrees this week.

In the Kurdish city of Divandarreh, residents took to the streets on Monday to protest the tap water being turned off, the Norwegian-based human rights organization Hengaw said.

A large swathe of Iran, with almost 90 million people, is covered by desert. For years, researchers have been warning of an increase in droughts in the region, which is particularly hard hit by the effects of the climate crisis.