Every year, as the spring approaches, Iranians prepare for Nowruz; a holiday that marks a new beginning, light after darkness, and hope after a long winter.
This year, Nowruz does not feel the way it used to. Many things still look the same on the outside. The Haft-Seen table is ready, just like every year. There is green wheat, flowers, a mirror, a copy of the Holy Quran, and a glass bowl with small red fish swimming quietly.
TEHRAN - Iranian citizens are celebrating the ancient Nowruz (the Persian New Year) while their country is under an illegal and borderless war by the United States and Israel.
Despite the ongoing U.S.-Israeli imposed war, people from all walks of life in the country are preparing to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, with the universal message of boosting unity and peace among people.
TEHRAN- Year 1404 is ending under a sky that has too often flashed with missiles instead of fireworks, yet spring still arrives in Iran with its quiet, stubborn radiance. For twenty-one days, the attacks have overshadowed the familiar joy of the last days of the year. This time, the new year greets us hand in hand with Eid al-Fitr, but since the first explosions, the lights of Ramadan nights and end-of-year rituals have felt dimmer, as if viewed through a veil of smoke.
BABOLSAR- As the sun dips toward the horizon on this final Friday of the Persian calendar year 1404, the air in the northern city of Babolsar, Mazandaran, carries a bittersweet fragrance. It is the scent of blooming bergamot blossoms—the namesake of my eight-year-old daughter, Toranj—mingled with the salty mist of the Caspian Sea and the heavy, solemn aroma of rosewater from a recent funeral procession.
TEHRAN – Iranians inside the country and across the diaspora have welcomed Nowruz, the Persian New Year, with vibrant celebrations that mark the arrival of spring and renewal. Rooted in traditions stretching back more than 3,000 years, Nowruz remains a powerful symbol of cultural continuity and joy, uniting families worldwide through age-old customs such as the Haft-Sin table—an arrangement of seven symbolic items beginning with the Persian letter “S,” representing health, prosperity, and rebirth.
TEHRAN — “Uncle Nowruz, do not come here.” This haunting plea has echoed through my mind as the 1405 spring approaches.
Tehran — This year, Nowruz was different. It is no exaggeration to call it the most unprecedented Nowruz in Iran’s contemporary history. The Persian year 1404 was a difficult and bitter one for Iranians. Early in the year, the country became embroiled in a 12-day war imposed by the United States and Israel, during which more than a thousand honorable Iranian citizens lost their lives and became victims of the lies, ambitions, and crimes of those two regimes.
TEHRAN – Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf called on Muslim nations to cast off reliance on the United States and forge a new regional security order rooted in Islamic solidarity, warning that American military presences in the region serve only to enable Israeli aggression and division.
