Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - August 13, 2001 - Continuation of the Controversy Surrounding the Election of Legal Members of the Guardian Council by the Sixth Parliament and Ayatollah Khamenei's Order to Halt the Inauguration of President Khatami

Meeting with the organizers of the commemoration of martyr women in Tehran Province.

Meeting with Mohsen Nourbakhsh and recounting that he told Seyed Mohammad Khatami that if Mr. Tahmasb Mozaffari and Mohammad Setarifar are appointed to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Budget and Planning Organization, they will not remain at the Central Bank.

Report from Hossein Mahalooji on his negotiations with the representative and the Amir of Sharjah and other discussions.

Meeting with scholars from the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Continuation of the controversy surrounding the election of legal members of the Guardian Council by the Sixth Parliament and Ayatollah Khamenei's order to halt the inauguration of President Khatami, along with the communication of the Leader's inquiry to Hashemi through Seyed Ali Asghar Hojjati to refer the matter to the Council.

Complete Daily Note:

Members of the committee for commemorating martyr women in Tehran Province came; a combination of the Martyrs Foundation, Basij, and the IRGC. The head of the Basij Women’s Organization in Tehran reported that efforts have been made to clarify the role of women in the revolution and the war, as well as to support the families of martyrs and the women of martyrs. In a speech, I encouraged them for their role in raising women. They said about 400 female martyrs have been identified in Tehran Province, mostly from bombing victims.

Dr. [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh, [the head of the Central Bank], came and said he told Mr. [Mohammad] Khatami, [the President], that if Mr. [Tahmasb] Mozaffari and [Mohammad] Setarifar are appointed to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Budget and Planning Organization, they will not stay at the Central Bank. He asked for my opinion on this matter. I told him to wait until the issue is clarified.

Mr. [Hossein] Mahalooji, [the executive assistant at the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council], came and reported on his lengthy negotiations with the representative of Sheikh Sultan, the Amir of Sharjah, and the Sultan himself, and then discussions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Supreme National Security Council and Dr. [Ali Akbar] Velayati, [the Leader's advisor on international affairs], which ultimately reached an agreement regarding Abu Musa Island; however, recently the Iranian side has raised new conditions.

In the afternoon, a group of scholars from the Republic of Azerbaijan came. They are guests of the Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation. They asked me, as an honorary member of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan, to pay more attention to their country. I had a detailed and friendly discussion based on the factors of equality, brotherhood, and friendship between the two nations and emphasized the necessity of resolving border disputes in the Caspian Sea through negotiations and turning the Caspian Sea into a sea of friendship.

Today, the parliament discussed the legal members of the Guardian Council in the morning and afternoon and only elected one; although Mr. [Seyed Mahmoud] Shahroudi, [the head of the judiciary], made concessions and introduced new candidates, they still did not receive votes. Mr. [Mahdi] Karroubi, [the speaker of the parliament], announced that the inauguration ceremony of the [President] would take place tomorrow, but the Leader has written a letter to Mr. Karroubi instructing him to delay the inauguration until the legal members are elected due to constitutional ambiguities.

Then the parliament's presiding board announced that they would have a regular session tomorrow, and the inauguration would not take place, despite doubts regarding the legitimacy of the parliament, given the situation surrounding the Guardian Council. Mr. [Seyed Ali Asghar] Hojjati, [the assistant to the Leader's office], also called to inform me that the Leader had inquired about my opinion regarding how to refer the matter to the Expediency Council. I said that if it is to be referred as a problem, it would be better for the Guardian Council, judiciary, or parliament to request a referral from the Leader.

[George W. Bush], the President of the United States, today signed the congressional bill regarding a five-year sanction on Iran, even though the U.S. government's stance had been for a two-year extension. The Palestinian crisis remains intens