State and regional media across Iran are forecasting widespread rain and strong winds for the final week of the Persian year, amidst ongoing severe military and political upheaval.
As Iran grapples with the fallout from an unprecedented wave of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes and the official appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Supreme Leader, state and regional media have uniformly broadcast routine weather advisories for the nation.
According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the national Meteorological Organization announced that multiple rain systems will affect provinces across the country during the final week of the Persian year. The rainfall is expected to continue until Wednesday, Esfand 27, just ahead of the Nowruz holidays.This identical forecast was syndicated verbatim across various regional news networks, including آخرین خبر تهران (Tehran today), آخرین خبر مازندران (Mazandaran today), آخرین خبر آذربایجان شرقی (East Azerbaijan today), and آخرین خبر کردستان (Kurdistan today).
In addition to the rain, IRNA reported that "relatively strong to severe winds" are predicted across various regions throughout the week. The high winds are forecast to affect the eastern and southeastern borders on Saturday, moving to western and southwestern areas by Sunday. On Monday, the winds will impact the northwest, west, and central regions.
By Tuesday, these conditions will spread to provinces along the southern slopes of the Alborz mountains, as well as the west, center, southern half, and northeast. IRNA concluded that by Wednesday, the winds will remain concentrated in the northeast and east, warning that "the phenomenon of dust and reduced air quality is not unexpected in susceptible areas."
Four of the five channels posted the exact same verbatim sentence regarding the rain forecast. IRNA provided the only extended coverage by including the second paragraph detailing the wind and dust forecasts.