Iran has announced a nationwide two-day holiday because of increasing temperatures.

Government spokesperson Ali Bahadori Jahromi said the decision to close governmental offices, banks and schools on Wednesday and Thursday came after the health ministry warned about a possible increase in cases of heat exhaustion because of high temperatures in the country, the official IRNA news agency reported.

In recent days cities and towns in Iran saw temperatures of around 40C. The capital, Tehran, experienced 38C on Tuesday.

The metrological office predicted Tehran would see temperatures of 39C over the next three days.

Ahvaz, the capital of an oil-rich province in the country’s south west, experienced 50C temperatures on Tuesday.

In 2022, Iran registered its hottest temperature at 53C in Ahvaz.

The highest registered air temperature on Earth is 56.7C, recorded on July 10, 1913, in Death Valley in the US.