Iran's relatively large number of holidays have long been a point of contention in the country, although many Iranians don’t hesitate to seize every chance to pack their bags and leave urban sprawls for nature. But now, clerics and a number of politicians are increasingly speaking out against what they deem excessive breaks, saying that the holidays harm the country. Added to the mix is the asymmetry of the Iranian week compared with the rest of the world. While Western states and most Eastern countries count Saturday and Sunday as the weekend, in Iran, only Friday is a day off, with many offices semi-operational on Thursday. As such, the Iranian economy is disconnected from the world for at least three days of the week.

Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a powerful cleric based in the holy city of Qom, is among the prominent figures who have repeatedly urged the government and parliament to decrease the number of holidays.

“The developed countries don’t have [an excessive number of] holidays, and this is one of the problems of the country,” said Makarem Shirazi on March 29, in reference to the ongoing 13-day holiday marking the Iranian New Year, or Nowruz, which began March 21.

Noting the extensive Nowruz holiday, the senior cleric added, “The New Year is named as ‘Resistance Economy: Production and Employment,’ but is it possible to create jobs and to produce by only three or four months of work [a year]?”