TEHRAN, MARCH 21 (MNA) – The Iranian regime's designated 'Supreme Leader,' Ayatollah Khamenei urges that the Year 1390 will be the 'Year of Economic Jihad,' in a televised Norouz message to the Iranian people.

Aiming to counter the sanctions implemented against the nation, Khamenei declares,

“I call this year the ‘Year of Economic Jihad’ and I expect the officials of the country and also our dear nation to work in a jihadi way in the economic areas.”

Details of how Khamenei plans on handling Iran's economy in a “jihadi way” remain unclear, however, in a report by the Hurriyet Daily News, Anoush Ehsteshami, professor and joint director of the ESRC Center for the Advanced Study of the Arab World at the University of Durham, assesses:

“Ahmadinejad and Khamenei will focus on populist rhetoric, while working towards unpopular measures like decreasing subsidies and pursuing more privatization […] The use of ‘jihad’ is nothing new, but changes are occurring in an economic sense, where Khamenei is pushing for greater economic liberalism and de-regulation to boost growth and recovery.”

Khamenei asserts that the economic sanctions against Iran by opposing nations are nothing more than attempts to foil the nation's rapid progress.

“Among the most important moves that the enemies have launched against our nation is countering our country in the economic areas [...] these sanctions that the enemies of the Iranian nation have prepared or enforced against the Iranian nation were intended to do a blow to the country’s progress and prevent its rapid move."

“(I) expect the officials of the country, whether in government, whether in Majlis, whether in other sectors which are related to economic issues, and also from our dear nation to work in a jihadi way in the economic areas.”