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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for Iran

The list of Iran bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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05 Mar 2008 (Trend News-Baku, Azerbaijan) The government of Iran is preparing to mark a Nuclear Holiday to raise the mood of the population. No date was mentioned, yet, but last year, Iran celebrated a National Day of Nuclear Technology on April 7. • 06 Jan 2008 (Press TV) All government offices, schools and universities will be closed on Monday and Tuesday, January 7 and 8, 2008, as the temperature is expected to fall as low as minus 11 degrees Celsius in the Iranian capital of Tehran. But presidential and ministerial offices, banks and medical centers will remain open. • 08 Oct 2007 (Press TV) Government spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, announced last night that the upcoming Eid al-Fitr public holiday would be a one-day public holiday, instead of the 3-day public holiday many had expected. In addition he stressed that "any day which is verified as Eid Al-Fitr, will be an official holiday", which could mean that with the upcoming public holiday set to occur on Friday October 12, and the Iranian weekend being Thursdays and Fridays, Iranian may not get any additional time off on account of this public holiday. • 20 Jul 2007 (Rooz) Ayatollah Khazali, a former member of the powerful Guardians Council and the Experts Assembly for Leadership, once again has proposed that the celebration of Ghadir should replace the traditional Iranian celebration of Nowruz, the traditional Iranian new year. • 16 Jun 2007 (Islamic Republic News Agency) Iran's Cabinet of Ministers has declared 3-day of national mourning, beginning on Sunday June 17, for the demise of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, and the governorate general of the Province of Qom has declared Sunday as a public holiday. • 19 Dec 2006 Every year, Iran holds celebrations from February 1-11, leading up to its National Day. This year the theme of the celebrations will be the successful establishment of Iran's nuclear industry, said government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham, as quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA. • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the Iran public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Governing Law: Official public holidays in Iram are regulated by the Labour Code of 20 November 1990 (Rouznameh Rasmi, 17 February 1991, No. 13387, pp. 1­14). Article 63 of the aforementioned text specifies that Labour Day (1st May) shall be considered an official holiday for workers. • Official Calendar: The Persian calendar, is Iran's National Official Calendar (Hijri-Shamsi). It is a solar calendar with a starting point that matches that of the Islamic calendar and whose origin can be traced back to the 11th century. The current calendar has been used in Iran since 1925 and in Afghanistan since 1957 (except during the Taliban period). The Persian year starts on the vernal equinox; if the astronomical vernal equinox falls before noon (Tehran true time), then that day is the first day of the year. If the astronomical vernal equinox falls after noon, the following day is the first day of the year. • Weekends: Article 43 and 62 of the Iranian Labour Code stipulate that Friday is the weekly day of rest. However, banks, government offices and public organizations in the Islamic Republic of Iran closed on both Thursdays and Fridays. However, many organizations are open half-day on Thursday. • Public Holidays may be extended by government decree for a day or more if they fall near the Iranian weekend (Thursday or Friday). • Government official working hours are Saturday to Wednesday, 8:00 to 16:00 hours and Thursday, 8:00 to 13:00 hours. Closed on Fridays andall public holidays. During the month of Ramadan government offices and many private businesses close around 14:00 hours or shortly there after. • Banks official working hours are Saturday to Wednesday, 8:00 to 15:00 hours and Thursday, 8:00 to 12:30 hours. Closed on Fridays andall public holidays. Source: • Although no official statement has been found, official government websites list Imam Reza's Birthday as an official public holiday in 2007, whereas they now omit the Martyrdom of Imam Reza which had been on previous years' official calendar of public holidays. • Ashura is also spelled: Ashoura, Ashoora, Aashura, Ashurah. • Noruz may also be spelled in other ways: Norooz, Nowrooz, Norouz, Nowrouz. • The beginning of Ramadan is not a holiday. • Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem. This national holiday -- dedicated to ending Israeli rule over Jerusalem and bringing the city under Muslim control -- has been marked every year since the Iranian revolution in 1979. • The main annual holiday season is from early July to early September. During this period, only few Iranian businessmen are in the office. This also applies to the period around Iranian New Year (around March 21), when most businesses are closed for at least two weeks. • Tehran Smog Public Holidays: In the past, the municipal authorities have declared 1- or 2-day public holidays in Tehran, when the level of pollution rose above a critical level . • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: The Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in Iran, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world. Aft=Afternoon, Arm=Armenian, Bah=Bahai, Bnk=Banks and most financial institutions, Bud=Buddhist, Cat=Catholic, Chr=Christian, Cop=Coptic, Eve=Evening, Gov=Government services and civil servants, Hin=Hindu, Jew=Jewish, Lin=Linguistic or ethnic groups, Mor=Morning, Mun=Municipal, Mus=Muslim, Orth=Orthodox, Othr=Miscellaneous partial observances (usually described in the Additional Information section of this page), Prt=Protestant, Reg=Regional, Rel=Other Religion, Sch=Schools and universities, Sik=Sikh.

Religious Holidays : Public holidays in Iran that are based on certain religious calendars may be subject to local variations due to differing interpretations between different religious authorities, or to seemingly arbitrary changes in the date a holiday is celebrated because it conflicts with another holiday that is based on another calendar, or because the day of the holiday is deemed inauspicious (bad luck). To find out more about these uncertainties, see the footnote below, if any, for each specific religion.

Muslim Holidays : Muslim bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Iran were evaluated using the Umm al-Qura Calendar of Saudi Arabia which is used in Saudi Arabia and in most of the Persian Gulf States. Holidays may occur a day later in countries outside the Gulf region. The sunrises, sunsets, moon phases, moonrises and moonsets used in these calculations are based on the location of Mecca (latitude 21.42°N, longitude, 39.82°E, GMT+3 hours, no summer time rules). For more details on Muslim holidays, see Muslim Calendar Holidays. For Salat (prayer times) calculations, see our Freeware page.

Persian holidays were calculated using the Persian calendar, based on the geographical location and timezone offset of Tehran, but neglecting summer time changes.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for Iran, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of Iran, before planning any trip to Iran. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.