What did Iranians Wish For on New Year's Eve?

Mohammad is a 30-year-old employee at a manteau shop near Haft-Tir Square, Tehran. On the eve of Iranian New Year, he says frankly: "I would like the government to change so that our economic situation improves, and we can live better, just like the rest of the world. I would like to live in a country where everyone is not just seeking their own interests."

This is a common sentiment among the citizens of the Iranian capital. Over the New Year holidays, people’s minds naturally turn to the what lies ahead, and how best it might be changed – perhaps all the more so at the turn of a new century.

Nima, a restaurant worker, is – like many others – fed up with the high cost of living. “I wish that housing, cars, food items and everything in general would be cheaper. And that we, the working class, will be able to taste life. This all hangs on regime change, and the departure of the mullahs.”

Ali, who works in a garment factory, agrees. “My wish is to see them gone so that the economy system can get a little better and people can live more comfortably.”

But Matin, who owns a boutique in the Shahr-Ara neighborhood of Tehran, has only one wish for the year 1400: to see coronavirus eradicated in Iran. He has no other dreams.

The rate of coronavirus infection in Iran has risen again, and is likely to continue to do so over the New Year holiday period as most areas of the country are still open to travel. Meanwhile, the prospect of being vaccinated, for the vast majority, is still a long way off.

Saman wants the market would flourish again, and the value of the dollar to fall, so that he might rent a house for himself or buy a car. "I wish my job was better so that I could get married,” he says. “But in the current situation, I really can't afford to get married or start a life."

Hossein, who works as a porter in a Tehran bazaar, says he and other friends and colleagues all want to see their wages increase in the new year because for the time being at least, they can barely afford their day-to-day living expenses. Their debts, he says, are increasing every day.

A few weeks before the holidays on Tuesday, March 9, Morteza Bakhtiari, head of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation on Tuesday, announced a 46 percent increase in the number of people referred to this institution for aid in 2020-2021. He said the causes were “economic shocks” "problems caused by coronavirus outbreak." Earlier in the year President Hassan Rouhani had said that some 60 million Iranians were in need of income support from the government.

Amirhossein works in a bakery in Tehran's Marzdaran neighborhood. He says his dream for the year 1400 is reconciliation between Iran and the United States, so as to improve the economic situation. Every day, he says, he sees the prices of rice, oil, dairy products and other foot staples rise, to the point that most are now beyond his reach.

A mother-of-two, Ms. Mohammadi, lives on Tavanir Street in Tehran. Both of her children are currently unemployed. "My wish for the new year,” she tells IranWire, “is that our young people never again have to deal with stress and poverty. Instead of enjoying their youth, they are worried about living. They cannot afford the basic necessities of life."

Across the board, a change of regime, economic improvement and an end to coronavirus were the three main wishes that Iranians in the streets of Tehran expressed for the new year. Many of the people we spoke to, who will recently have sat down at their family tables to mark the beginning of a new Persian century, expressed little to no hope for the future and cited “stress” and “worry” as occupying their minds rather than laughter, joy and celebration. The power to change this lies in the hands of a select few. Whether they will listen remains to be seen.

This article was written by a citizen journalist in Tehran under a pseudonym.

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