Cancellation of 200 Flights

The newspaper Shahrvand reported on the "paralyzed airports" due to snow, emphasizing that "the impact of precipitation on the performance of air terminals is unusual". It stated, "A simple snowfall has turned bitter for Tehran residents, and the news of flight cancellations from Imam Khomeini and Mehrabad airports is relentless, leaving the airports overwhelmed with confused passengers." According to this newspaper, "airlines have no suitable response for the stranded passengers at these airports," and "on Tuesday, some passengers reported to various media that not only did they face astronomical prices for purchasing canceled tickets, but also taxis costing one million tomans were waiting for them at Imam Khomeini Airport." The Shahrvand newspaper simultaneously reported taxi fares ranging from 500,000 to one million tomans, stating, "Some taxi drivers are asking for 500,000 tomans to transfer passengers to Robat Karim and one million tomans to Tehran. Drivers have parked their cars in the parking lot and come among the passengers offering their rates of 500,000 tomans to Robat Karim and one million tomans to Tehran." The newspaper noted that "despite the confusion of passengers at Mehrabad Airport, no airline officials provided any hospitality to their passengers; while all airlines are required by regulations to provide hospitality to their passengers after two hours of delay, with flight cancellations, passengers at the two busiest airports in the country were left stranded, and airlines did not provide any hospitality to their passengers." The Iran newspaper, close to the government, reported on "sub-zero temperatures in 29 provinces" and wrote that two days after the snowfall in various provinces of Iran, "crisis management headquarters at the national and provincial levels are now engaged in improving conditions and resolving issues, an incident that had put agencies on alert 24 hours prior according to weather forecasts, and this surprise was unexpected for many people." This cold weather "has caused a sudden increase in fuel consumption to the extent that provincial officials have repeatedly urged people to conserve fuel to avoid gas cuts." The newspaper reported that "the slipperiness and freezing of communication routes between provinces and even internal city roads" continues, and the intensity of snowfall two days ago was such that "municipalities have not yet been able to clear many streets, and snow remains on the trees." It emphasized that due to the snowfall from two days ago, "schools in the provinces of East Azerbaijan, Ardabil, Alborz, Tehran, Razavi Khorasan, North Khorasan, Qazvin, Golestan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Markazi, and Hamadan were closed," and on Tuesday night, "the temperature in the capitals of Ardabil reached minus 17, North Khorasan (Bojnurd minus 12), Alborz (Karaj minus 12), and Markazi (Arak minus 11), while residents of the capital experienced a temperature of minus 6 degrees." The people of Varzeqan in East Azerbaijan spent Tuesday night as the coldest city with a temperature of minus 22 degrees. The Khorasan newspaper dedicated its front page to "the cancellation of 200 flights and the confusion of people at airports after the snow in Tehran" and wrote: "The cancellation and delay of numerous flights at Imam and Mehrabad airports in Tehran caused confusion and uncertainty for many passengers." This newspaper pointed out that "despite a relative halt in snowfall, it has still created crises that are uncertain when they will end," stating that in recent days, the two airports in Tehran were unable to operate many of their flights due to snowfall, runway closures, and reduced visibility for pilots, leading to serious problems for some passengers at these airports, with over 155 incoming and outgoing flights canceled at Mehrabad Airport and over 45 flights at Imam Khomeini International Airport since Tuesday. Meanwhile, airlines have no suitable response for the stranded passengers at these airports." Khorasan reported that "numerous public reports indicate that many passengers have been present in the transit hall of this airport for hours, but due to the unavailability of flight conditions, they have neither been able to leave the airport nor exit the transit hall." At Mehrabad Airport, despite new statistics from the airport companies indicating the resumption of flights, "some flights are still experiencing several hours of delays, and some passengers have had to remain at the airport for hours for their domestic flights, leaving them in a state of uncertainty." The Aftab Yazd newspaper emphasized on its front page that "mismanagement and lack of coordination among officials" during the snowfall "has grounded the people." In its editorial titled "What Happens if Three Meters of Snow Falls?" it wrote: "The wall of denial is high. It is impossible to hold any official accountable for incompetence here without them having an excuse up their sleeve. Just a few days ago, when asked why something was lagging, they said, 'We were caught off guard.' Now, when we ask how the entire capital and surrounding cities are paralyzed by 30 centimeters of snow, they claim, 'Fortunately, we were not caught off guard, but we lack the facilities.'" The Aftab Yazd newspaper criticized the lack of accountability and responsibility of government officials regarding the problems faced by the people and their statements, writing: "This justification means that the officials and managers are skilled and efficient." The Shahrvand newspaper reported on the existence of "6,000 stateless children in Tehran," stating: "According to Soraya Sharqi, the director of women's and family affairs at the Tehran governorate, 5,000 to 6,000 stateless children live in Tehran." The newspaper noted that soon "the Tehran governorate will implement a plan to issue birth certificates and identification cards for street children," writing: "Mothers of infants without a specified father are referred to the prosecutor's office for the identification of their children." Soraya Sharqi, the director of women's and family affairs at the Tehran governorate, stated: "In Tehran province, we are in the process of reproducing stateless children; therefore, two decisions have been made regarding stateless children and their reproduction." The Farhikhtegan newspaper reported on the likelihood of an increase in the emigration of elites from Iran, writing: "The determination of a ceiling of 5 million tomans for the salaries of university faculty members, despite offers of 8,000 to 10,000 dollars from Gulf countries, has increased the risk of elite emigration from the country." According to this newspaper, "the salaries paid to faculty members in other countries like Malaysia are around 15,000 ringgits, which if converted to tomans, amounts to about 15 million tomans; however, the salaries paid to them in European countries are much higher than this amount, and the salaries given to faculty members in Gulf countries range from three to four thousand dollars, which will definitely be more than five million tomans." The Javan newspaper, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, quoted Gholamreza Jalali, head of the Civil Defense Organization, stating: "Telegram sells the information of Iranians to the U.S. and Israel." According to this newspaper, Gholamreza Jalali, during a speech to civil defense managers from across the country regarding the nationwide protests of 2017, stated: "This is a modern security incident, and we must identify its dimensions and neutralize the conspiracies. The factors of this incident were a three-sided triangle; the first side was the virtual space, the second side was the context and background of economic problems, and the last side was the threats from the enemy." The Sharq newspaper, in its front page, titled "Representatives Finally Visited Evin," wrote: "Representatives visited Evin but reported it drop by drop. All of them had pledged to write down points, and today, Ali Al-Talou' will speak about the details of that visit in a meeting. Some of them also briefly mentioned their visit to Evin in their Telegram channels; for instance, Alireza Rahimi wrote in his channel: 'The program for the representatives' visit to Evin prison was conducted in a protected and limited space.'" This newspaper noted that "the main purpose of the visit on Tuesday was to meet and talk with the prisoners of the protests in December and to follow up on the cause and manner of Sina Ghanbari's death in prison," writing: "From the scattered remarks of the representatives who visited Evin on Tuesday evening, it could be inferred that the visit to the women's ward did not take place, as no women from the recent detainees remained in Evin." However, "Fatemeh Saidi, the only woman present in the delegation visiting Evin, told Sharq that there is still one woman in detention who has not been able to post bail." The Sharq newspaper also wrote: "Some representatives' statements contradicted each other. One referred to the presence of six detainees from the recent arrests, while another mentioned four of them in Evin, even though Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, told the ISNA news agency on Tuesday that '300 people who committed crimes in recent events are in detention, nine of whom are in Tehran.' Alireza Rahimi, one of the representatives who visited Evin on Tuesday, also told Sharq: 'Considering that many of the other detainees are in other cities and provinces, we hope that similar visits to other prisons will be facilitated for representatives from the regions.'"