Authorities in the Iranian capital Tehran decided to close down all kindergartens, schools, and universities on Sunday because of high levels of air pollution. According to the air quality control center, the air-pollution indicator in most of the city crossed the danger line for vulnerable people and was well over 130. Acceptable pollution levels must be under 50.

Speaking to Press TV, officials warned that it won’t be the last time that dangerous air pollution shuts down schools in the polluted cities across Iran. They say in the past 12 months, on 156 days, pollution reached dangerous levels for sensitive groups of people, and in this period eight days were considered harmful to all the population.

Kalantari also blamed US sanctions for his organization’s inability to successfully protect the capital’s environment and the surrounding areas.

Tehran has suffered from dangerous levels of pollution and smog since mid-November. The odd-even traffic scheme has been applied all across the capital and the ban on the movement of trucks as well as the activity of sand mines and concrete industries will remain in place for the next few days.

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