I have written about this year’s remarkable coincidence of Christian holiday of Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Ramadan on February 18.

When Ramadan closes at the end of this week there is another coincidence with an important holiday, Nowruz, the Spring equinox which is celebrated in Iran and across most of Central Asia. It is not an Islamic holiday but an ancient, secular, New Year festival. It is rooted in Zoroastrianism that predates Islam by almost a millennium.

Nowruz is not dependent on sighting celestial bodies. The highly precise and clock-like revolution of planet Earth around the Sun results in a very well-known time at which the Sun crosses the Earth’s equator (i.e., the Spring equinox), this year on March 20, 2026, at 14:46 UTC.

Last Friday’s International Quds Day saw thousands of government supporters on the streets of Tehran and other big cities, amidst multiple of explosions. The majority of Iran’s population, not in favour of the regime, probably stayed at home, anxiously awaiting more Israeli and US’ strikes.

What will they do on Friday this week? Traditionally, Nowruz holidays last for 13 days. Is it conceivable that the Iranians will take to the street once more and overthrow their overlords of 47 years (as President Donal Trump encouraged them in his speech on February 28, after the air strikes had started which killed the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei)?

Hopefully not! The rabid regime supporters would only cause another massacre.

Far from it! Trump’s recent attempts to drag Nato and other forces (China, Japan, South Korea) into the conflict over Iran’s closing the Strait of Hormuz; or his remarks, in an interview that he could bomb Iran’s Kargh island “once more”a few more times”, just for fun, will only unite Iranians behind the regime.

16 March 2026 @ 9:33 UTC+1.

Last modified March 16, 2026.