Iraq announces nationwide power outage, restoration efforts underway

BAGHDAD

Iraq said Wednesday that the national power grid is completely down throughout the country, but work is being done to restore it.

In a statement, the Electricity Ministry said that “the power system has completely shut down across all Iraqi provinces.”

🛑 Iraq said that the national power grid is completely down throughout the country, but work is being done to restore it

⚠️ The ministry later blamed the outage for 'a technical issue caused by a sudden drop in gas supplies to the Rumaila gas power plant in Basra province' in… pic.twitter.com/Qb08nx1gEe

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) March 5, 2026

It added that authorities are currently investigating the causes of the outage and beginning procedures to restart the power plants and reconnect disconnected transmission lines.

The ministry later blamed the outage for “a technical issue caused by a sudden drop in gas supplies to the Rumaila gas power plant in Basra province” in southern Iraq.

“The disruption led to the rapid loss of 1,900 megawatts, causing a voltage collapse at the plant and the disconnection of transmission lines and several generation stations,” it said.

The ministry confirmed that work is underway to restore the system gradually.​​​​​​​

*Writing by Rania Abushamala