General blackout hits Kurdistan Region after technical fault

ERBIL — A technical fault in the Kurdistan Region’s high-voltage transmission network caused a general blackout across multiple areas Tuesday, the Ministry of Electricity said, with repair crews working to restore power.

“Due to a technical problem in the high-pressure transmission networks, a general blackout has occurred,” the ministry said, adding that teams are working to fix the issue and that power is expected to be restored soon.

Power disruptions have become a recurring problem in the Kurdistan Region. The Khor Mor gas field — the region’s main domestic gas source — has been offline since Feb. 28 when regional conflict forced a halt to production, cutting between 2,500 and 3,000 megawatts from the grid. Iranian gas supplies to the region have also been severely disrupted following Israeli strikes on Iran’s South Pars field in March. A drone attack on Khor Mor in late November 2025 triggered a broad blackout, and technical faults in January 2026 caused temporary outages across Erbil, Duhok and Sulaymaniyah.