Speaking in a press conference for the 16th round of ‘Under the Sun’ events, Mojtaba Mokhtari congratulated the start of Karamat ten-day celebrations, which coincides with Imam Reza’s birth anniversary, saying: “These convoys have been set up to make pilgrimage possible for those Imam Reza lovers who don’t have the means to make the trip to shrine [in northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad]”.

Having been running during the 10 days of Karamat since 2008, these convoys could provide services in eight Iranian provinces in the first year.

“The servants of Imam Reza shrine are supposed to carry Imam Reza’s flag to hospitals, penitentiaries, orphanages, hospices, military bases, etc. in these programs so that those who are unable to make the pilgrimage can benefit from this spiritual act”, added Mokhtari.

Talking about the 16th round of these programs, head of Institute for Youth noted: “This year, the convoys are scheduled to carry the flag to more than 2000 regions of the country with the slogan of ‘We stand together under your flag’”.

Further in the press conference, Mokhtari pointed to the convoys for other countries such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syrian, India, Russia, etc., saying: “In the international section, we’re supposed to go to 9 countries. Of course, we’ve so far been present in 36 countries. Our mission is more practical in this section since promotion of Islamic teachings is on our agenda. Therefore, religious scholars and preachers will accompany shrine servants in international convoys”.

Head of youth institute of the shrine concluded his remarks by stressing the public dimension of these programs, asserting “the events are all financially supported by the people and some 40000 charitable figures are involved from across the country, which has made it the biggest cultural and popular incident in Iran”.