IRAN'S KHAMENEI ABSENT ON PERSIAN NEW YEAR AS SPEECH READ OUT ON TV

TEHRAN, March 21 (Bernama-dpa) -- People in Iran eagerly awaited a first public appearance by the country's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Persian New Year, or Nowruz, on Friday - but a speech attributed to him was instead read out on state television.

On the screens, a still image of the supreme leader was shown alongside an Iranian flag, reported German news agency dpa. 

Mojtaba Khamenei has not appeared in public or released audio or video messages since his appointment on March 8, leading to speculation about his health.

He succeeded his father ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tehran on the first day of the US-Israeli attack on February 28. Mojtaba Khamenei also lost his wife, mother and a brother-in-law in the bombings.

According to the US government, Mojtaba Khamenei is injured. No further details are available.

Nowruz, meaning "new day," is an ancestral festivity marking the first day of spring and the renewal of nature. It marks the spring equinox in the northern hemisphere, when night and day are of equal length, and falls on March 20 or 21.

In his Nowruz statement, Khamenei thanked the president, the government, the armed forces and the Iranian people for their resistance against the joint US-Israeli attacks.

The adversaries were not relying solely on military means such as missiles, drones and torpedoes, he said, adding that Iran's "front line" was broader than its enemies wished to acknowledge.

Khamenei declared the new Persian year the "year of the resistance economy in the spirit of national unity and security."

The supreme leader's message also urged all media outlets to exercise restraint and avoid highlighting vulnerabilities, warning that doing otherwise could help the enemy achieve its objectives.

He also denied that Iranian forces had carried out attacks on Turkey and Oman.

--BERNAMA-dpa