In a message marking the arrival of the Solar calendar year of 1397 (beginning March 21, 2018),  Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei congratulated all Iranian compatriots, particularly the respectable families of martyrs and the war-wounded as well as promising youths and teenagers, who are the driving force behind  the country’s scientific movement. He wished them a merry and sweet Nowruz (New Year) and a year replete with blessings and good fortune. The Leader named the new year as the year of “Support for Iranian Products.”  

In an assessment of the ups and downs and the bitter and sweet moments of the Iranian calendar year 1396, Ayatollah Khamenei described it as a year of the “demonstration of the greatness, power and presence of the nation.” 
“At the beginning of the year, more than 40 million of the people took part in the presidential and councils elections, resulting in a very good, great, stunning and meaningful turnout, and this presence continued in the Quds Day demonstrations (June 23, 2017), Dey 9 rallies (December 30, 2017) and best of all in the Bahman 22 rallies (February 11, 2018).”  

He pointed to the futile efforts and planning of the enemies to create unrest in the final months of the year and said the spontaneous rallies of the people in protest at the riots in some Iranian cities showed the presence of the great, insightful, agile and prepared Iranian nation in all fields, saying, “The Iranian nation, and even those to whom the enemy sought to attribute the disturbances, stood up to the rioters, and this move revealed the greatness of the Iranian nation more than ever.”    

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Islamic Republic’s other achievement in the past year was “turning regional threats into opportunities,” saying, “One of the objectives of regional threats was to harm Iran; however, not only did the Islamic Republic not allow the threats to harm the country, but also turned them into opportunities.” 

He said the attempts made to realize the motto of the Iranian calendar year 1396, namely “Resistance Economy: Production-Employment,” were another positive and promising point and added, “Good actions were taken for production and employment, and the motto of the year was fulfilled to some extent; of course, much remains to be done until this motto is fully realized.” 
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution pointed to bitter events in the year 1396 such as “the floods, earthquakes and sinking of an oil tanker as well as a plane crash where our beloved compatriots lost their lives” and reiterated, “In addition to these incidents, the continuation of drought in some parts of the country and the persistence of economic problems of some strata of society are among the issues that everyone should try to settle.”

Outlining the prospect of the endeavors of the people and officials in the New Year, he said, “I usually address the officials in the annual mottoes; however, this year the audience is the entire nation, including officials, and everyone should try and work hard.” 

Ayatollah Khamenei described economy and people’s livelihood as the main issue of this year, as in previous years, and stressed “domestic production” as the keystone to resolving economic problems.
“If domestic production gathers pace with everyone’s endeavours and perseverance, most of the livelihood problems of the people and the issues of employment and investment would be resolved and social maladies will greatly decrease; therefore, I have given this year the name and motto of ‘Support for Iranian Products’.”    

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said people from all walks of life and officials have a duty to support Iranian products.
“In my speech on the first day of the year, I will elaborate on the various aspects of what the people and officials must do to support Iranian products,” Ayatollah Khamenei added.

He also sent his greetings to Imam Mahdi and saluted the spirit of the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini, saying that the concurrence of the spring of nature with the spring of spirituality, i.e. the lunar calendar months of Rajab, Sha’ban and Ramadan, is an opportunity for the spiritual and material growth and germination of the nation.