Memories of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - 1999 July 11 - The extremely important meeting and consultation between Hashemi Rafsanjani and Khamenei in the evening of 1999 July 11

Khamenei's serious resistance to the removal of the then-commander of Naja
Khamenei's displeasure over the withdrawal of Waja's complaint from Salam newspaper
Khamenei's extreme displeasure with Mousavi Khoyini and the performance of Salam newspaper
Khamenei's displeasure with Dr. Moin's resignation to support the students
Khamenei's displeasure with Mousavi Ardabili and Montazeri for supporting students
Interesting behaviors of consolidation of unity according to Khamenei's narrative
Khamenei's opposition to the proposal to remove Montazeri's house arrest

Hashemi's meeting with the leadership regarding university incidents, students' situation, and the leadership's complaint about some actions and officials.

I was the guest of the leader. Most of the talks were about the situation of universities and political evils.

The leaders said, that in the evening, a group of ministers came and demanded that we release Salam [newspaper] and dismiss Mr. [Hedayat] Lotfian, [Naja commander] and make a statement about the encroachment on the university and appease the students. They have answered that they will not depose Lotfian because he is innocent. They also do not agree with the release of Salam newspaper, because it causes sedition; Although the court acted without their knowledge and now the court itself decides.

They were unhappy with the formal and political resignation of Dr. [Mustafa] Moin, [Minister of Culture and Higher Education], and they were also angry with Mr. [Ali] Younesi, Minister of Information, withdrawing the complaint from Salam, and with the statement of Mr. [Syed Abdul Karim Mousavi] Ardabili and [Hossein Ali] Montazeri, about universities and they believe that Mr. Mousavi Ardabili has reflected a personal problem with the leadership in the statement.

They said, that tomorrow they have a speech and they will talk about the current events and comfort the students and criticize the abuses and cheating and being the victim of foreigners and strengthening the police force; There was a consultation about this.

I proposed to Mr. [Mohammed] Momin, [Syed Hasan] Taheri [Khorramabadi], [Syed Mohammad] Abtahi [Kashani], and [Abbas] Mahfovi about Montazeri, but they did not accept.

Probably, Mr. Montazeri's statement today is not ineffective. I raised a basic discussion about the general policies of the country's management, that a specific method should be chosen by curbing the currents and with complete freedom and not paying attention to its requirements, which was decided to continue the discussion in the next meetings. They saw the corner of my abaya torn and they gave me a high-quality abaya.

The leaders said that two of the heads of the Tahkim Vahdat office came to their office today and they were upset that they had lost control and demanded that the leadership help them by accepting the dismissal of Mr. Lotfian and the freedom of Salam newspaper and Payam Dahuda [weekly]. to end the story.

They are upset about making false demands and have no way back. They have been advised to stop being stubborn. They have requested to hand over the dead bodies for burial, and now it turns out that they did not die, and their advertisement was a lie.
They have propagated and incited by claiming the killing of a group of students, and the Supreme National Security Council has also announced that no one has been killed except for an officer on duty.

I went to my office to sleep.

Mr. [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh, [Akhoi] Mohammad, [Mohammed Ali] Najafi and [Ishaq] Jahangiri came. They said that the government has decided that it is good to remove the leader, Timsar Lotfian, from the command of Naja and to release the publication of Salam newspaper. They asked me to help the leadership agree; I did not promise

Until one o'clock in the morning, I read the reports of today's many incidents;

In Tehran University and the surrounding streets, the students have held demonstrations and the speeches and slogans have been very sharp and they have made brazen attacks on the leadership,  have beaten some of the Hizbollah people, and have marched in the streets in the evening and at night.

The signs of the presence of hypocrites and counter-revolutionists are evident among the students, and it is clear that the control has gone out of the hands of Tahkim Vahdat, who was the initiator, and the foreign media, especially the British and American radios, are skilfully inciting and directing, and the left-wing newspapers are arrogant and careless. They have stepped out of bounds.

Late Mr. [Mehdi] Karubi called and asked for an urgent appointment.

He is worried about the contents of the leader's speech tomorrow. After the report of the government ministers about the contents of the leadership meeting, they are worried. I said, come tomorrow morning. At night, I slept little because of reading the reports.