Iranians mark the start of their New Year todaypublished at 12:49 GMT
Ghoncheh Habibiazad
Senior reporter, BBC Persian
Iranians are marking the start of the year 1405 in the Solar “Hijri” calendar today. The last time Iranians celebrated New Year during wartime was in the 1980s, during the eight-year conflict with Iraq.
A woman in her 40s in Tehran says: “It doesn’t feel like New Year, it feels different from recent years. It’s gloomy.”
But this year’s New Year is the first many have experienced during a war.
“A friend’s home was shattered by the blast wave today. I personally can’t feel the New Year’s vibe,” a woman in her 20s in Tehran says.
Iran is currently under a government-imposed internet blackout, but some manage to connect to the internet. Some are seeing the New Year in a different way.
A man in his 30s in Karaj, a city near Tehran, says that he is “full of hope and energy”.
“It is the first year that the evil king is no more,” he says, referring to the death of Iran’s late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war.
“The neighbour had put some happy music on today. I think this was the first time I’ve heard any music in a long time. I think people are starting to believe the year has actually changed,” a man in his 30s in Tehran says.
