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On January 11, the world learned through the news that Baghdad, Iraq experienced the first snowfall in a century. And its neighbor, Iran, has also been experiencing record-breaking snowfall this winter.

According to the local newspaper, Jam-e Jam, the continuous snowfall on January 6th and 7th caused 12 fatal traffic accidents resulting in 15 dead and 112 injured. And 5 people were reported to have died from the cold. In Tehran Province, schools, governments, and other public offices were closed for the day on the 9th, and the government in many provinces including Tehran urged its people not to go out or travel.

Moreover, although northern Iran has suffered from extreme cold spells and heavy snowfall, there are regions where the supply of natural gas via Turkmenistan has been cut off since the end of last year endangering the lives of the people.

In the Gilan Province located in the northern region of Iran, snow accumulation on rooftops is equivalent to 85kg as of January 8th. If this exceeds 100kg, there is concern that roofs could cave in, so it has been reported that people remain in dangerous and unpredictable situation.

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