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Maryam had invited her two daughters and their husbands and grandchildren for Norouz, the New Year's feast, to her home in western Tehran when I called her on Saturday. It was after 9:02 p.m. when "tahvil," the change from the old to the new year, 1389 after Iranian calendar, was celebrated at Maryam's apartment, as it was in hundreds of thousands of other households in Iran and other countries. She had prepared a beautiful Haft Seen, the Norouz table, and cooked delicious Iranian food. The television was on to follow the announcement of the "tahvil," after which everyone congratulated each...

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan – Spring is here. The snow is melting, the trees are blooming and days are getting longer. And here in Afghanistan, spring marks the beginning of the Afghan New Year, Nowruz. Nowruz, a Persian word meaning "a new day," is an ancient Persian tradition. It marks the first day of spring and the beginning of the new year on a solar calendar, and is celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox, which is typically lands on March 21. In honor of Nowruz, International Security Assistance Forces hosted Afgan National Security Forces and Afghan government officials at...

Nowruz 2569 (1389) will begin on: با شادباش نوروز - تحويل سال نوتحويل سال نو ۲۵۶۹ - ساعت ۹ و ۲ دقيقه و ۰۰ ثانيه بعد از ظهر شنبه اول فروردين ۱۳۸۹ در ايران Tehran: Saturday:      09:02:00 PM      March 20, 2010 New York: Saturday 01:32:00 PM March 20, 2010 Chicago: Saturday 12:32:00 PM March 20, 2010 Denver: Saturday 11:32:00 AM March 20, 2010 Los Angeles:      Saturday 10:32:00 AM March 20, 2010 London: Saturday 05:32:00 PM March 20, 2010 Paris: Saturday 06:32:00 PM March 20, 2010 Rome: Saturday 06:32:00 PM March 20, 2010 Berlin: Saturday 06:32:00 PM March 20, 2010 Athens:...

WASHINGTON -- President Obama told Iranians in an online video message that the U.S. wants more educational and cultural exchanges, and lamented that Tehran's leaders have "turned their backs" on good faith overtures in the past to expand opportunities for their people.

Today, I want to extend my best wishes to all who are celebrating Nowruz in the United States and around the world. On this New Year’s celebration, friends and family have a unique opportunity to reflect on the year gone by; to celebrate their time together; and to share in their hopes for the future. One year ago, I chose this occasion to speak directly to the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and to offer a new chapter of engagement on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect. I did so with no illusions. For...

Scarcely did we have time to absorb the full import of Barack Obama becoming — in the portentous phrase that has been all over the news — “the first sitting president to appear on the Jay Leno show.” And now here he is in a White House video wishing happy new year to “the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” Maybe President Obama should have put the two together, and wished Iran happy new year, or Nowruz, from the set of the Jay Leno show instead of the White House. At least that might have left the...

2009-03-20 Open letter to President Barak Hussein Obama President Obama, Your Norooz message to Islamic republic leaders is loud and clear .Unfortunately it might not be as effective as you like it to be. You should have been informed that the leaders of the Islamic republic care less about Norooz, and Norooz greetings. In fact, you should have been informed that the Islamic regime has stated that Norooz must be replaced by an Islamic holyday. The only reason this agenda is not fulfilled is because of the great resistance of the Iranian people. Mr. President let me ask you, If...

War On Terror: Is there some grand strategy behind President Obama's "Happy Persian New Year" video message to Iran? Or is America embracing the naive notion that we can get the Islamofascists to like us?As Mark Finkelstein's "FinkelBlog" noted, there were no American flags visible in the background to ruffle the mullahs' turbans in Obama's Friday midnight video message. A wide shot featured on the White House Web site has the president sitting before Old Glory, but it turns out there is more than one edition of the video. The version with Farsi subtitles — presumably the one pegged for...

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 06 – Iran’s police chief has vowed to keep “repeat offenders” in prison throughout the entire Persian New Year period which lasts until April 3 even if their jail terms expire. Brigadier General Ismaeil Ahmadi-Moghaddam, the commander of Iran’s State Security Forces, on Wednesday said, “With the cooperation of the judiciary, repeat offenders who are arrested will be incarcerated until the end of the holiday period”. His remarks were carried by the government-owned news agency Fars. “Among the steps we are taking is increasing police patrols, and arresting and detaining repeat offenders”, said Ahmadi-Moghaddam, who is himself...

On March 25, the fourth annual Persian parade will begin on 40th Street and Madison Avenue. Organizers say the single-day festival commemorates Noerooz, the Persian New Year of 1386, and its theme will be "Celebrating the Persian-American Community." In a statement, they said: "The 2007 parade is promising to be bigger, better, and more colorful than ever." That's because it's in New York, where we are free to express our cultural heritage without losing our national identity. Judging from persianparade.org, which shows last year's Iradj Javid parade, I expect to see as many American flags as in tomorrow's Irish-American St....

Reza Pahlavi’s Message On the Occasion of Persian New Year 2006 (Nowrooz 1385) March 20th, 2006 All nations’ festive occasions are a reminder of past glories and happy times. For us, the people of Iran, Nowrooz is that and more: It is a reminder of our national and historical identity; it connects our ancient heritage to today and the future, having endured through foreign attacks and domination of anti-Iranian orders; it is thus the mark of the continuity of our national history. This year, Nowrooz comes under conditions where the anti-Iranian policies of the Islamic regime have brought our homeland...

Tehran, Iran, Mar. 16 – Iran’s paramilitary police arrested 1,000 individuals in the Iranian capital during Tuesday night’s annual fire festival, Tehran’s deputy chief prosecutor announced on Thursday. “On the night leading to the [Persian calendar] year’s final Wednesday, 1,000 individuals who were creating disorder and disruption were arrested across Tehran”, Mahmoud Salarkia announced. His comments were carried by the state-run news agency ISNA. The figure was considerably higher than the one announced earlier by Greater Tehran’s chief of police. Brigadier General Morteza Talai said on Wednesday that the security forces had arrested 174 people in Tehran during the festival...

Under the azure dome, before Islam's arrival in the 7th Century, the Persians, in what is today's Iran, began battling evil with fire. Despite Islamic traditionalists' dislike of "superstitious" ritual, the practice of purifying one's body and soul has survived in Iran and thrived into the present-day Festival of Fire. The annual celebration is the one secular event — probably beside national soccer victories — that is celebrated by every Iranian regardless of religious affiliations. Last night, instead of leaping over bonfires, Toronto's 100,000-strong Iranian Canadian community ushered in the festival with fireworks at Sunnybrook Park and Mel Lastman Square,...

Revelers call for anti-Islamic Regime demonstration on Wednesday March 15th at 7pm Iran Time (GMT +3:30). Farsi language radio station KRSI in Los Angeles took calls live this Tuesday morning from people gathered in the streets in Iran and broadcasted them live to listeners all over Iran. Despite a total ban by the Islamic regime against celebrating an ancient Zoroastrian festival, traditionally on the last Wednesday of the Persian Year, by jumping over lines of smallish tumbleweed bonfires and chanting "your redness to me, my yellowness to you", crowds ignored the edict. And faced up to the attacks from the...

Tehran plans a nuclear weapons test before March 20, 2006 – the Iranian New Year, moves Shahab-3 missiles within striking range of Israel. Reporting this, the dissident Foundation for Democracy in Iran, a US-based watch group, cites sources in the US and Iran. The FDI adds from Iran: on June 16, the high command of the Revolutionary Guards Air Force ordered Shahab-3 missile units to move mobile launchers every 24 hours instead of weekly. This is in view of a potential pre-emptive strike by the US or Israel. Advance Shahab-3 units have been positioned in Kermanshah and Hamad within striking...

People (both muslims and christians) are getting ready for a happy new year and Christmas! Although we (Persians) have our own solar year delivery (Norouz) on march 21st every year, most people also celebrate Christmas though Merry Christmas to every one from Iran

Top News Story Iran Focus Tehran, Iran, Sep. 04 – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the jihad against Israel must continue and be strengthened, Iran’s semi-official daily Jomhouri Islami reported on Sunday. “The only way to fight the Zionist enemy is to continue and increase resistance and jihad”, Ayatollah Khamenei said at a meeting on Saturday with secretary general of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Abdullah, the hard-line daily Jomhouri Islami wrote. Iran’s official policy is to call for the annihilation of the Jewish state. The country’s clerical rulers have been strongly opposed to Palestinian President...

Top News Story U.S., Europe Must Forge Broader Alliance, Says State's Fried The Washington File, Embassy of the U.S., London: America and Europe must work together to support democratic development throughout the broader Middle East, just as they supported the democratic aspirations of pro-democracy movements in central and Eastern Europe, says the State Department’s Daniel Fried. Speaking in Paris September 1, the day after attending a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the founding of Solidarity in Gdansk, Poland, Fried said the Polish people “achieved democracy through their own efforts, but they had support from abroad,” including from Western...

Top News Story Iranian President Gets Terror Law Exception An Excerpt: World News Tonight, ABC News:State Department says Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a terrorist, but will grant him a visa anyway, ABC News has learned. The State Department has issued a legal finding that Ahmadinejad is ineligible for a U.S. visa because of section 212(a)3(b) of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which says anyone with terrorist ties cannot be granted a visa. But U.S. officials have decided to waive section 212, so that Ahmadinejad can get a limited visa to attend the United Nations General Assembly, which begins...

Top News Story See no evil? (Washington, D.C.): The leaking earlier this month of a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) projection that Iran is a decade away from obtaining nuclear weapons - doubling previous official estimates - is, in some ways, more ominous than would have been a finding that the mullahs are about to get "the Bomb." After all, the latter would be no surprise, given the considerable evidence (albeit, much of it circumstantial) that has accumulated about Tehran's intentions and activities in this area. By contrast, the pollyanish assessment not only seems wildly out of touch with such...