SUNDAY TIMES ISLAMABAD:Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Faisal in his tweet said, Pakistan is deeply grieved and extends condolences and sympathies to the people and government of Iran over the loss of precious lives in the recent rain and flash floods.

The death toll of floods that have swept across most Iranian provinces has risen to 23 with several injured.

National Emergency Service chief Pirhossein Koolivand had said the casualty toll in the southern city of Shiraz was 23 dead and 74 injured, while another person was killed in Sarpol-e Zahab in the western province of Kermanshah, the service said on its website.

Iran has been facing unprecedented floods in 25 of its 31 provinces, the country’s Crisis Management Organisation said.

The latest floods have struck mostly west and southwest Iran and follow major flooding on March 19 in the northeast’s Golestan and Mazandaran provinces, for which no official casualty toll has been issued.