Iran orders nationwide shutdown due to high temperatures

A boy cools off in a water fountain at the Ebrahim Park in Tehran as the temperature reached 38C (Vahid Salemi/AP/PA)

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.