Iranian officials are considering formal Wednesday shutdowns to create three-day weekends and a full summer week off amid worsening water and power outages caused by extreme heat and falling reservoir levels across the country.
The executions of Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamlou and Mehdi Hassani were carried out in Tehran’s Evin prison, where they had been held since their arrest. Both were convicted in September 2024 by Iman Afshari, head of Branch 26 of Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, on a range of national security charges.
According to the Mizan report, the charges included “baghi” (armed rebellion), “moharebeh” (waging war against God), “efsadfel-arz” (corruption on earth), membership in a terrorist organization, gathering classified information, and conspiracy against national security. Their sentences were later upheld by Iran's Supreme Court.
"The terrorists, in coordination with MEK leaders, had set up a team house in Tehran, where they built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals," Mizan said. "They fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres, and also carried out propaganda and information-gathering activities in support of the MEK."
Semi-official Mehr News Agency reported that Ehsani-Eslamloo was arrested in 2022 following an explosion at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, an incident claimed by the MEK.
The MEK, or People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, was a prominent Marxist-Islamist group that staged bombing campaigns against Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi andUS targets in the 1970s. It later fell out with other factions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and has since opposed the Islamic Republic from exile. The group’s leadership is currently based in Paris.
The MEK was designated a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union until 2012, though it continues to be banned in Iran.
“This regime has poisoned our soil, air, and economy and dragged Iran to the edge of destruction. Ali Khamenei should know his regime is crumbling, many around him despise him, and thousands of his own forces are waiting to abandon the sinking ship,” Pahlavi said in his speech.
The Islamic Republic has lost its grip and is now weaker than ever, he said. “For the first time in decades, we have a real chance to uproot this anti-Iranian regime.”
The prince had earlier told Politico that over 50,000 state insiders including members of the military had registered with his platform to assist in the Islamic Republic’s downfall.
“Ending the Islamic Republic will bring lasting security and peace to the region,” he added, calling on all opposition groups to united around a transition plan.
“We, patriots who believe in freedom, are not like the criminals who order executions from rooftops,” he said, vowing that even Khamenei will enjoy a fair trial in the post-Islamic Republic Iran.
Exiled Queen and Nobel laureate rally support
In a video message, Iran's exiled Queen Farah Pahlavi backed the calls for unity, expressing admiration for Iranians’ resolve. “You have been suffering for more than four decades. It is your right to freedom, welfare, and sovereignty."
“I am behind you and the national revolution of Iran. I believe that with the will and solidarity of the people, greatness and glory will return to our historic land.”
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi also addressed the Munich event through a video message.
“The political structure and constitution (of the Islamic Republic) do not allow for any kind of reforms, and to achieve a democratic and secular government in which all citizens, regardless of political or religious beliefs or any other kind of differences, enjoy equal rights, there is no path but the overthrow of the regime and holding a referendum under the supervision of the United Nations," she said.
Ebadi said she is neither a monarchist nor a republican, but added that “hand in hand, we must strive to overthrow the regime and free ourselves from the demon of despotism."
"At the ballot box, each person will express their preferred form of government. Today is the time to choose.”
Protest victims' families
The gathering, which brought together over 500 figures from political, academic, and cultural spheres, also featured testimony from family members of protest victims.
“My Erfan is gone, but countless Erfans are rising from the soil,” said the mother of Erfan Dashti, a young man killed in the 2022 protests. Addressing Pahlavi directly, she added: “You are our only hope to reclaim our home.”
Mahboubeh Ramazani, whose son Pejman Qolipour was killed in the November 2019 crackdown, said: “This unity gives us joy because it means we will return. We want our Iran back from the enemies.”
The father of child protest victim Abolfazl Amirataei accused the Islamic Republic of squandering national wealth on regional adventurism, saying it “turned all reserves into dollars to fund chaos abroad.”
Danial Ilkhanipour, a member of the Hamburg State Parliament, said the window to act was narrowing. “There are only two options on the table. A democratic Iran or a more ruthless regime,” he said. He praised Pahlavi for understanding the urgency and called on opposition groups to move beyond ideology.
The event’s organizers said it was the most diverse opposition coalition ever convened outside Iran.
Pahlavi earlier called the event “perhaps the largest gathering ever” of anti-Islamic Republic voices since the 1979 revolution, aiming to project unity among opposition groups and reach audiences inside Iran.
He said all participants back three core principles: preserving Iran’s territorial integrity, defending individual freedoms and equality, and separating religion from the state.
“This opportunity will not last forever,” Pahlavi warned in his Saturday speech. “But with unity and resolve, we can seize it and reclaim Iran’s future.”
On Wednesday, July 23, the Islamic Republic tried shutting down government offices, and it cut national power demand by 19,000 megawatt-hours and reduced Tehran’s water usage by 3,800 liters per second, Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi said on Sunday.
Repeating the closure for four weeks could lower the capital’s consumption by six million cubic meters, he added.
IRGC-aligned Tasnim News Agency described the trial closure as effective, citing a 10 percent decline in Tehran’s daily water use, from up to four million cubic meters down to about 3.4 million.
Iran's government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Sunday that authorities are considering a full summer week off, with a final decision expected on Wednesday.
Iran has recently faced an unprecedented heatwave, and many natural and engineered water reservoirs across the country particularly in Tehran, Alborz and Fars provinces are nearly depleted.
In the capital Tehran, officials have attempted to curb consumption through emergency measures, including repeated water and electricity outages.
Reservoirs drop, outages rise
Authorities warned on Sunday that electricity generation from the Karaj dam in western Tehran may cease within days due to plummeting reservoir levels.
The Karaj dam’s hydroelectric plant, which still produces electricity, may be forced to shut down in two weeks as the water level drops below the intake threshold, its manager Mohammad Ali Moallem said.
Once the reservoir falls beneath a critical line, power generation will no longer be possible, he warned.
Some of Iran’s deepest reservoirs have shrunk to shallow ponds, and water pressure in parts of Tehran is now so low that taps fail to reach above the second floor in many buildings, according to state-run media.
“The water crisis is more serious than what is being talked about today,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said during a cabinet meeting on Monday.
“If we do not make urgent decisions today, we will face a situation in the future that cannot be cured.”
In a video sent to Iran International, a Tehran resident shows new machines dispensing drinking water for a fee, activated with bank cards and filling personal containers like an ATM.
Outages now extend to seven hours in rural areas, said Ali-Gholi Imani, a member of the agricultural pricing council Sunday.
“With the current power cuts, one-third of the country’s agricultural output is being lost,” he warned.
The crisis reflects not only institutional mismanagement but resource collapse, environmental researcher Rouzbeh Eskandari told Iran International.
He recommended urgent investment in wastewater recycling, leak reduction in pipelines, and smart monitoring for farms.
Resolving the country’s water crisis requires a total of 13.26 quadrillion rials, or around $15.7 billion, Mohsen Zangeneh, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Program and Budget Committee, said Sunday.
According to officials, he added, the national budget for the current year has allocated 500 trillion rials, or about $568.2 million, toward the critical issue.
