Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 19, 2002

The President of the United States has become active on two fronts to increase pressure on Iraq: at the Security Council to issue a resolution, and in Congress to obtain permission for a military attack.

In today’s newspapers, Mohammad’s brother’s remarks regarding the government’s foreign commitments received special attention. He stated that the Khatami government created $80 billion in commitments, mostly through buy-back mechanisms, which imposes costs on Iran.

Full journal entry:

[George Bush], the U.S. President, has become active on two fronts to pressure Iraq further; at the United Nations Security Council, he has begun intensive activities to pass a resolution, and in Congress, he has acted to get approval for a military attack on Iraq even before the Security Council convenes, and he will submit a bill to Congress. Akbar Ebrahimi, the UN representative in Afghanistan, while appreciating the actions of the Iranian delegation in Afghanistan, expressed concern about the dangers of neglecting Afghanistan if a war with Iraq breaks out, especially if U.S. forces go to Iraq.

In Pakistan, it was announced that the second group of Islamic terrorists has been arrested in the past week. It was reported that this second group intended to assassinate Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, and General Musharraf has also extended his command over the ground forces for another five years; he is currently both the President, the Defense Minister, and the Commander of the Ground Forces.

In today’s newspapers, Mohammad’s brother’s remarks regarding the government’s foreign commitments received special attention. On Tuesday, in an interview with the Jomhouri Eslami newspaper, in response to statements by Mr. Khatami, [President] in his recent interview, he said that the Khatami government created $80 billion in commitments, mostly through buy-back mechanisms, which imposes costs on Iran. The Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Economy did not deny it, but [Mr. Abdollah Ramazanzadeh], the government spokesman, in response to questions, said that these statements reflect the family defense tradition in Iran, which is praised. Mohammad again responded in Jomhouri Eslami newspaper, and it seems this debate will continue, because the government took pride in reducing foreign commitments.

Palestinian Mujahideen, in three martyrdom operations, killed and injured a number of Zionists. It had been a few weeks since such operations, but Israel has not ceased its mischief, oppression, killings, and arrests. It is believed that due to the wide-scale arrest of Mujahideen and the detention of more than nine thousand of them, their operational capability was eliminated, and this renewed operation is significant.