Hamid Ahadi ‎

Facing its first emergency conditions, the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cut off ‎fuel shipments to Iran’s factories and industrial centers in a bid to avert a nationwide ‎crisis, inflicting billions of dollars in damages to the country. ‎

The government’s inability to handle the wave of cold weather and snowfall hitting the ‎nation has even sparked popular unrest across various cities in Iran. Newspapers in ‎Tehran reported that government officials are examining a plan to declare emergency rule ‎and shut down schools, universities, government offices and factories to combat potential ‎unrest. ‎

Meanwhile, the state-run television and radio networks continue to remind the public of ‎the “unprecedented” nature of the cold wave hitting the nation. The goal is to vindicate ‎the government from the anger of a raging public that is facing fuel cuts amid extremely ‎low temperatures. Many decided to chant anti-government slogans during the Friday ‎prayers this week. ‎

According to a report published in E’temad Melli newspaper, people in Sari celebrated ‎Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to their city by pouring onto the streets and chanting ‎slogans condemning the government’s failure to deliver fuel and gas. ‎

Meanwhile, Jomhouri Eslami daily dismissed reports that the cold wave is the worst of its ‎kind in fifty years, noting that in many recent years temperatures reached lower levels. ‎The paper also refuted claims by some government officials linking fuel cuts to supply ‎shortages in Turkmenistan. ‎

According to E’temad daily, the simplest lesson of the past week was that the ‎government had no plans on how to deal with a public emergency situation like the one ‎currently facing the nation. Fuel cuts have cut off heat to several cities and towns across ‎the nation. ‎

In a sarcastically-toned editorial published in E’temad, Jamileh Kadivar referenced ‎remarks by Ahmadinejad that the earth does not shake under the feet of pious men, and ‎responded to claims by some traditionalists that the tsunami in Indonesia was God’s ‎revenge on sinners, writing, “fortunately, no one makes ideological interpretations of ‎snow and ice, but it is only natural than when a government removes almost all ‎experienced managers and executives from their posts, it is caught off guard in situations ‎such as this and does not know how to handle it.” ‎