The UC Santa Barbara Persian Student Group celebrated Nowruz, the Persian New Year, outside the UCSB Library on March 2. Nowruz, which will take place on March 20, has been celebrated for over three centuries and is observed by around 300 million people worldwide.
Nowruz attendees held Iranian lion and sun flags and American flags. Shengyu Zheng / Daily Nexus
In addition to commemorating Nowruz, Persian Student Group (PSG) members and other attendees celebrated the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran for over three decades, who was killed in a United States-Israeli airstrike on Tehran. The U.S. and Israel launched an initial attack on Iran on Feb. 28, using targeted airstrikes on various cities across Iran.
PSG members played Persian music over speakers while 35 attendees — some holding Iranian lion and sun flags and American flags — danced and chatted. The celebration featured a Haft-sin display, an arrangement of symbolic items set up on a table.
The Haft-sin display featured various items that start with the Persian letter “s.” Religious studies professor Aazam Feiz explained that each item symbolizes different concepts but collectively represents Persian culture.
The PSG’s display featured senjed fruit symbolizing love, a pudding symbolizing “the sweetness of life,” apples symbolizing health, sprouts of lentil and wheat symbolizing rebirth, a mirror symbolizing honesty and candles symbolizing light, among other items. The display also featured oranges floating in a fish bowl. Traditionally, goldfish symbolize vitality for Haft-sin displays.
“Then we have garlic, it is for medicine. We have sumac, it is for sunrise. Then we have coins, it is for prosperity, and colored eggs, they are for fertility,” Feiz said. “We have a Persian poetry book, it is for Khayyam — for 1,000 years ago. So we have these items to show our culture and to make visibility.”
Each item on the Haft-sin display symbolizes different concepts but collectively represents Persian culture. Shengyu Zheng / Daily Nexus
Next to the Haft-sin display, the PSG set up a collection of photographs of Iranians imprisoned and killed by the Islamic Republic following large-scale anti-government protests in January. Feiz described the photographs as evidence of mass casualties in Iran.
“From Dec. 28 till two days ago, Feb. 28, the Islamic Republic has killed more than 40,000 people. We don’t know how much — but minimum 32,000. So here [we set] photos of them,” Feiz said.
According to first-year electrical engineering major and PSG member Armin Moayedjafari, the event was held with the intention of celebrating Nowruz, as well as freedom from Khamenei.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has been oppressing our people for a while, and with the war going on, the Supreme Leader is dead,” Moayedjafari said. “So we’re here to celebrate both the freedom from the Supreme Leader plus the New Year.”
Sahand Ahmadi, a fourth-year financial mathematics and statistics major and PSG treasurer, planned the celebration. He said it was “by coincidence” that their Nowruz celebration coincided closely with Khamenei’s killing.
Ahmadi said he “100%” believes that the majority of PSG’s members support the U.S.-Israeli’s military actions against Iran, as they view Khamenei and his regime as oppressors who killed thousands of dissidents.
“This is what the people of Iran have been wanting. We’re so happy. We’re not stupid. We know that people do things for their own agendas,” Ahmadi said. “Currently, the interest of the Iranian people is very much aligned with those of the United States. People have been begging for foreign intervention.”
Feiz shared a similar perspective, saying that she had seen many videos of Iranians globally celebrating the death of Khamenei. She specifically emphasized that this is because Khamenei’s regime had committed atrocities, including “executing people,” raping women, torturing children and supporting militia proxies, including Hezbollah.
“Even in Iran, they are dancing in the street. They are in the street dancing all over the world. Yesterday in Los Angeles, thousands of people. In London, in Germany, everywhere,” Feiz said. “Iranians are dancing, they are so happy and we are so thankful from the United States. God bless America. The regime in Iran — they are a cancer to the world.”
After the news of Khamenei’s death broke, large crowds of Iranians celebrated publicly on the streets of cities across the country. On March 1, thousands of Iranian Americans celebrated on the streets of Los Angeles, expressing their joy and hope for freedom for Iran.
Ahmadi expressed that he finds negative reactions against the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran to be “patronizing and condescending,” and emphasized that he believes certain Democrat politicians and other people who oppose it do not understand how oppressive Khamenei’s regime was. He also clarified they aren’t claiming “Trump’s a good person,” but he is currently “doing the right thing.”
“[The regime] killed over 40,000 people in the streets. Kamala Harris, Zohran Mamdani — they said nothing, they didn’t care,” Ahmadi said. “But now the moment [the U.S. and Israel] start attacking these people that have been oppressing us, now they’re saying ‘No war with Iran, no this, no that.’ Trying to talk about international law? Where were you two months ago? No one believes in that anymore.”
Moayedjafari, who was born in and attended school in Iran, said that he believes the U.S.-Israeli military actions in Iran are the Iranian people’s “only hope for freedom.” In a video message posted by President Donald Trump on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said to Iranians that “the hour of [their] freedom is at hand” following the U.S.-Israeli operations in Iran.
“I believe if it leads to a regime change in Iran, I think it would be really good for the Iranian people. They’ve been oppressed for more than 40 years. Women’s rights have been stripped from them. There’s just no freedom in Iran,” Moayedjafari said.
Looking forward, Feiz said she hopes that Iran can experience a regime change and that Iranians will be able to “live normally just like people living in other countries.” Moayedjafari said that he hopes a regime change in Iran will bring about a democracy and that some Iranians want the exiled crown prince of Iran, Reza al-Pahlavi, to become a leader during the transitional period.
“He’s not going to be the shah or the leader forever. He’s going to just lead the transition, and then Iran is going to hopefully become a democracy,” Moayedjafari said.
For Moayedjafari and other PSG members, they saw the event as a special time to celebrate Nowruz, while also expressing their hopes for the future of Iran.
“I love Persian New Year, it’s part of my culture, and I’ve been doing it for all my life. It’s just a symbol for new beginnings,” Moayedjafari said. “Hopefully, this new year is going to be a symbol for a new beginning for Iran. With the supreme leader gone, we’re going to have a regime change this new year.”
A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the March 5, 2026 edition of the Daily Nexus.
