Iranian legislators have passed a bill to make Saturdays, in addition to Fridays, weekend holidays.

According to The Iran Project, In order to be implemented, however, the bill requires final confirmation by the Guardian Council.

During the Wednesday voting session, lawmaker Mohammad Reza Mirtajedini said he thinks it would be better to keep Thursdays and Fridays as holidays.

He argued that China-US trade relations stand at $1.5 trillion and these transactions are carried out on all days of the week, but they do not even have one working hour in common.

Mirtajedini pointed out that 85% of Iran’s foreign trade is with Muslim countries and 15% with other nations, saying the Islamic Republic should not make a decision that would harm the culture of the society.

Ali Akbar Alizadeh, another member of parliament, said in opposition to the bill that the difference in time zones between Iran and other countries would make the Saturday holiday pointless, adding that customs offices are open on all days of the week and trade orders are registered.

Mohammad Rezapur Ebrahimi, another MP, said in favor of the bill that the opinions of the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives and the Iran Chamber of Commerce should be taken into account, adding that 45,000 economic experts signed a petition to call for announcing Saturdays as holiday, and that Iran has been losing $8 billion due to the fact that Saturdays have not been a holiday.

Given the fact that prior to this new law, Thursdays have been semi-holiday in Iran, after the final endorsement of this bill by the Guardian Council, all executive agencies except bodies such as welfare units, banks, hospitals, healthcare centers, sports facilities, and military, police, and intelligence units are required to organize their working hours over five weekdays from Sunday to Thursday.

According to the new law, the work hours will change from 44 and 176 hours respectively per week and month to 42.5 and 170 hours.