New Year Message on the Occasion of the Beginning of Year 1401

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Thanks be to God, the Lord of the worlds, and may blessings be upon Muhammad and his pure family, especially the Awaited Savior of mankind, may our souls be sacrificed for him.

O Turner of hearts and sights, O Manager of night and day, O Transformer of years and conditions, transform our state to the best of states.

I congratulate the arrival of Nowruz and the beginning of the new year, the new nature, the new day, and the new era, which this year coincides with the days of the half of Sha'ban, belonging to the radiant sun of existence, the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him). I extend my congratulations to the great nation of Iran and to all the kindred and like-minded nations. In particular, I congratulate the esteemed families of the martyrs, the patient and valuable families, and may God not shorten the shadow of these esteemed families over the nation of Iran and over us. I also congratulate the dear disabled veterans and their patient and selfless families, as well as the self-sacrificers and sincere servants of the nation of Iran in various fields; whether in the field of health, security, resistance, or science; and I congratulate all these dear ones on this sweet day and blessed holiday.

Another year has passed. The year 1400 has come to an end with all its sweetness and bitterness, its ups and downs, which is natural in life. Life is a collection of these ups and downs, sweetness and bitterness. I would like to point out a few peaks of the events of the Iranian nation, a few highlights, a few great sweetnesses, one of which was the issue of elections. The elections were truly important, significant. Despite the severity of the pandemic, the coronavirus at the beginning of the year 1400, the people came to the ballot boxes and voted. This is very important. While gathering two people in one place was dangerous. Those days when we had hundreds of casualties a day, perhaps five hundred, six hundred, or even more. In such conditions, elections were held. The people participated, and a fresh government came to the field, which, as the signs indicate, is a popular government, interested in the movements and goals of the people, and is moving on a separate track from the previous esteemed government, and has revived hopes in the people, thanks be to God. This was one of the peaks and highlights of the events of the Iranian nation.

Another serious confrontation with the pandemic of coronavirus was fought in the true sense of the word. The casualties of this dangerous disease went from several hundred a day at one point to twenty, eighteen, for example; it reached this point. Although it has risen a bit again, the difference between this situation, where thanks be to God the vaccine was made available to everyone, and that situation of those days is significant.

Another peak was the advancement of science and technology. The production of several types of vaccines in the country, some of which were globally approved; and various scientific and technical movements, from vaccines to satellites, in all directions, thanks be to God, the country made significant progress. These were the great peaks of the year 1400. There were also various events inside the country. There were other sweetnesses as well.

In the global arena, it was the same. One of the most important sweet events of the year 1400 was that the Americans, recently, of course, came and confessed, in their own words, that we suffered a humiliating defeat in the maximum pressure against Iran. The term "humiliating" is the Americans' own expression. This is an important incident. The Iranian nation triumphed. The Iranian nation achieved success. No one can attribute this to themselves. The steadfastness of the Iranian nation reached such a great victory. Many other events occurred; both nearby and far away, all proving the correctness of the Iranian nation's path against global arrogance. It showed that the right path is the one the Iranian nation is taking against global arrogance. Well, these were the sweetnesses.

We also had some bitterness, and among all the bitterness, the one that seems to me to be the hardest and most important is the people's livelihood issues, the issue of inflation and rising prices, which must definitely be addressed. These are solvable issues, economic problems that we hope will be partially resolved this year, because all of these will not be resolved suddenly; they will be resolved gradually. It is not realistic for one to hurry and say, "No, it will be resolved soon." However, God willing, we hope that some of these will be resolved during 1401, which is the first year of the century, the fifteenth century of the solar Hijri calendar.

In past years, we have introduced a title each year as the slogan of the year so that the officials, mainly the executive branch, and on the sidelines, the legislative and judicial branches, and also the general public — where it directly relates to the people — can move in this direction. In some years, good successes have been achieved in this regard. In some places, of course, there have been shortcomings in some years. In the year 1400, we raised the issue of production, removing obstacles, and providing support. Some good work has been done relatively, which must continue. In these past few years, I have mainly focused on the slogan of the year being "production" with a caveat, with a particularity. The reason is that production is the key to solving the economic problems of the country. National production is, in fact, the main way to overcome the economic hardships and difficulties for the country. That is, the most important economic issues of the country are solved by the issue of production, the promotion of national production, and the flourishing of national production. This is the nature of production. This is why we have focused on production; it increases economic growth, creates employment, reduces inflation, increases per capita income, and creates public welfare. In addition, it has psychological effects; it boosts national self-confidence and creates a sense of dignity in the nation. Production is such an elixir. Such an important event is national production, if God willing, it proceeds in the best way. Therefore, we have focused on the issue of production in these past few years. It has not been without effect; thanks be to God, it has had good impacts. This year, I also want to raise production. However, I want to present a new layer, a new face of production, which has two characteristics: one is that it should create employment, and the other is that it should be knowledge-based. Knowledge-based production, relying on knowledge, new knowledge, and scientific advancements, and production that creates employment. Of course, all productions create employment, but some productions, despite their massive investment, do not create much employment, while others do. I will explain these in my speech tomorrow to some extent. If we consider knowledge-based production as a criterion and pursue production that is knowledge-based with the characteristics I will mention, God willing, in the speech on the first day of the year, I believe we will have a good shake, a noticeable forward movement in all our economic goals, God willing. The issue of job creation is the same. Therefore, this year our slogan has become: "Production; Knowledge-based, Employment-creating." This is production. Of course, I have a strong request; I said this last year too, that friends should not be satisfied with just writing this phrase on the letterheads of various organizations or, for example, making a sign to put up on the street; these are not actions. The main thing is that this policy should be genuinely implemented. Of course, this government, with the situation I observe, with the dynamism that the esteemed President and his colleagues have, God willing, will progress. That is, this slogan will not remain on paper, with God's grace. However, the more work is done, the more effort is made, the better it will be.

We hope, God willing, that the Almighty God will will good for the dear nation of Iran this year, during this holiday, in this precious opportunity of the year, and make the people happy, sweeten their lives, and may the pure souls of our dear martyrs, the pure spirit of our great Imam, Imam Khomeini (may God’s peace be upon him) be pleased, and may God Almighty convey our greetings, respect, and sincerity to the dust of the feet of the Awaited Savior (may our souls be sacrificed for him).

Peace be upon you and God's mercy and blessings.