IRNA – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Iranians celebrate Nowruz concurrent with the arrival of Spring while the country is faced with multiple and historic challenges and stressed the coronavirus outbreak in Iran exposed the reality of the US sanctions to the world.

Zarif made the remarks through a video message released on Wednesday.

His remarks are as follows:

“Dear friends my name is Javad Zarif and I’m the Foreign Minister of Iran.

Today I’m not solely addressing you as my country’s representative but as a fellow human being at a time when we Iranians normally celebrate Nowruz our New Year concurrent with the arrival of Spring we are faced with multiple and historic challenges.

My country is among the hardest hit by the coronavirus even like other nations we are now learning how to better confront it sadly a huge part of the danger Iranians face is due to restrictions unjustly imposed on them the United States government.

Iran today is the most intensely sanctioned country in history not in line with United Nations decisions but contrary to them the economic siege imposed on us impedes all legitimate trade and deprives us from our own resources the ones necessary to address the needs of our people including their health and livelihoods.

Even amid this pandemic the US government has fully refused to lift its unlawful and collective punishment making it virtually impossible for us to even buy medicine and medical equipment.

The bigger tragedy is that many companies and countries who officially oppose these sanctions have chosen to comply with them perhaps in hopes of avoiding the future wrath of the United States despite President Trump time and again proving that is just wishful thinking.

Dear friends, allow me to be frank. We are all in this together to better confront the virus we need to better work together but to get there the war on multilateralism, international cooperation and the rule of law must come to an end and those who passively comply with the whims of unilateralist bullies must wake up to the reality that they’re also responsible for the destructive ramifications of aggressive unilateralism.

I can assure you that we Iranians relying on millennia of civilizations and unified national resilience will overcome these challenges and emerge as a stronger and more compassionate community.

I wholeheartedly wish the same for all my fellow human beings but we human beings are capable of adopting a more empathic and eventually a more prudent approach towards one another one premise on mutual respect and equal footing it.

It takes real courage and moral imperatives and if we are to make the world that will emerge from COVID19 a better one, it is vital that we seize the opportunity to forge a new path.

Eight centuries ago our great poet Sa’adi wrote:

All human beings are members of one frame since all at first from the same essence came,

When time afflicts a limb with pain

The other limbs at rest cannot remain.

I wish all who celebrate Nowruz and all of you and your loved ones good health, happiness and a brighter year ahead.”

Also, the foreign minister via a twitter message congratulated over Nowruz, and called for forging a new path, if we want to emerge from the coronavirus.

"If we are to make the world that will emerge from #COVID19 a better one, we must seize the opportunity to forge new path," Zarif tweeted on Wednesday.

“My thoughts on the occasion of #Nowruz, the Persian New Year.”

Nowruz (meaning new day in Persian) marks the first day of spring and Persian New Year that is celebrated across the world by various countries, particularly in Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

It was registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009 by the UN.