Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 10, 2002

I visited the metro stations with Mohsen, [Chairman and CEO of Tehran Metro Company], which are located next to Hemmat Highway, inside the Imam Khomeini and Mosalla complexes, on both sides of Resalat Highway. The Imam Complex is preventing the operation of Hemmat Station and must allocate part of its land for building a parking lot for the metro, and the Tehran Mosalla also obstructs parking construction; it was agreed that I would help resolve the issue.

At 10:30 a.m., along with members of the [Assembly of] Experts, we went to the Leader’s office. Mr. [Ali] Meshkini, [Chairman of the Assembly of Experts], and [Ebrahim] Amini, [Head of the Secretariat], spoke and reported on the meeting. The Leader also delivered a long talk about the strength of the system.

I received visits thanking me for my speech at the [Assembly of] Experts regarding globalization and internationalization. Mr. Amini also praised it in his report to the Leader. Dr. [Hassan] Rouhani, [Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council], said that during yesterday’s session with the Leader regarding Iraq, the Leader stated that helping the U.S. in an attack on Iraq is illegitimate, but after discussions about possible actions by the forces of the Supreme Council [of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq] on their own soil, it was decided to prepare a precise plan that concerns them directly.

We went to the office of Mr. Khatami, [President]. The Experts were his guests for lunch. In the morning, Mr. Meshkini and Khatami spoke. Mr. Khatami no longer discusses political development in such sessions and focuses more on economic issues; he expressed his dissatisfaction with the negativity of media, individuals, and platforms.

I returned to my office and worked until the afternoon. In the evening, Mr. Behzad Nabavi, [Mohammad Ali] Abtahi, Majid Ansari, [and Mohammad Reza Aref and Bijan Namdar Zangeneh] came to discuss the regulations for supervising general policies. We reached an agreement in principle. Mr. Abtahi said they had benefited from my guidance and would draft the president’s powers bill based on the bill Mr. Khamenei had sent to the parliament during his presidency, which the parliament had partly rejected at the time.

In southern France, an unprecedented flood caused 16 fatalities and significant financial damage. In India, the collapse of a bridge caused several train carriages to fall into a river, killing more than 100 people. The U.S., fearing terrorist attacks, temporarily closed its embassies in Indonesia and Malaysia.