Air pollution has forced Iranian authorities to close kindergartens and all other schools in Tehran province for two days.
Decision for the school closure for two days was made by a crisis committee on air pollution. Tehran has been suffering from dangerous levels of pollution and smog since the beginning of the month.
Schools were closed for two days in Tehran, following air pollution three times the acceptable level that has blanketed the city in smog.
Air quality in Iran’s capital was the worst in at least nine months this week, and floating particles from car emissions were at “seven times the standard level”.
Traffic will also be limited in the centre of town and some factories will be closed.
The Air Quality Index on Monday showed an average reading of 162 — a “red status” warning that the air is unhealthy for everyone. A normal healthy level is between zero and 50.
Peak pollution hit 180 in some areas of Tehran, where poor air is worsened due to high altitudes — between 1,100 and 1,700 metres (3,600-5,600 feet) above sea level — in a basin surrounded by mountains.
Visibility was low as a grey fog blanketed the capital, a megacity of an estimated 14 million people. The snow-capped mountains of the Alborz range were invisible from the city centre.
Exhaust fumes from five million cars make up 80 percent of Tehran’s pollution, which increases in winter as emissions fail to rise above cold air.
Iran’s government has tried to cut pollution by supplying lower emission fuel in large cities. In 2012, pollution contributed to the premature deaths of 4,500 people in Tehran and about 80,000 in the country.