Marking the occasion of the Iranian new year, or Nowruz, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addressed Iranians and discussed the focus of the country for the upcoming year. Khamenei officially themed the focus of the year “Production: Knowledge-based and job creating.”
Discussing the previous year, Khamenei said that one of the important things that took place was a presidential election, despite the challenges of the coronavirus in holding that election. He said that the new Ebrahim Raisi administration “has revived hopes amongst the people.” Khamenei also praised the country’s vaccination efforts. Iran’s population is 67% fully vaccinated. Since the outbreak of COVID in February of 2020, approximately 140,000 Iranians have died from the virus. Some officials have said that the official number could be twice as high.
