Iran announced on Sunday the closure of schools and offices in many provinces across the country due to a cold snap and energy shortages, which in recent weeks prompted the rationing of electricity, state media reported.

Iran is an energy giant with the world's second-largest reserves of natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

But the country has been forced to ration electricity in recent weeks due to a lack of gas and fuel to feed its power plants.

Schools and public offices were closed down in the northern provinces of Gilan, Golestan, Ardabil as well as Alborz, west of the capital Tehran, "due to the cold weather and to manage fuel consumption," official news agency IRNA said.

It reported that similar decisions were taken due to the cold in several other provinces, including Tehran and Mazandaran in the north, Kermanshah in the west, Ghazvin in the center and South Khorasan in the east.

In recent days, unexpected power cuts have affected several provinces as well as the capital, Tehran, leading to frustration among the citizens.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian urged citizens on Thursday to use "two degrees less" heating to save energy, which has already become a campaign promoted by his government.

Iran was the world's seventh-largest producer of crude oil in 2022 and has the third-largest proven reserves behind Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

However, Iran's electricity grid suffers from a lack of investment in infrastructure, partly due to Western sanctions.

In July, authorities ordered the working hours of government institutions to be halved for several days to conserve energy during a heat wave.