Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed hope for economic success and called for boosting domestic production during a nationally televised speech to mark Nowruz, the Iranian New Year.
“These economic problems are curable and we hope that some of them will disappear this year,” Khamenei said, addressing the issue of economic sanctions imposed by the US after it left the 2015 nuclear deal, and which is being renegotiated in Vienna. He added, however, that the economic problems will only go away “gradually.”
“Unlike the previous years that the people of Iran would be advised to stay home during the Nowruz holidays and refrain from visiting the loved ones because of coronavirus pandemic, people are now more enthusiastic to participate at the main part of the new year’s traditions, after the restrictions reduced,” Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported.
Nowruz, the Persian New Year, a 3,000-year-old cultural celebration in which millions of people around the world celebrate the beginning of spring, began in the Middle East on Sunday evening and lasts for 13 days. Nowruz, which literally translates to “new day” in Persian, has its roots in Iran and originates from Zoroastrianism, is a mostly secular holiday in Iran, as well as in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.