Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - May 4, 2001 - Completion of the Draft National Security Policies in the Expediency Discernment Council

Completion of the Draft National Security Policies in the Expediency Discernment Council

Consultative Meeting with Sheikh Abbas Vaez Tabasi and Sheikh Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri Regarding Political and Electoral Matters

Consultative Meeting with Mohsen Sazegara, Along with Abbas Ghasemi Sharif, Son of Azam Taleghani, and Saeed Faeghi Regarding Political and Electoral Matters

Meeting with a Number of Hezbollah Lebanon Members Accompanied by General Qassem Soleimani, Hosted by Sheikh Mahdi Karroubi, Which Raises Important Points

Complete Daily Record:

After 53 years of continuous membership in the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the U.S. was eliminated from the elections held the day before yesterday. Opponents of President George Bush criticized his weak foreign policy. Pope John Paul II apologized to the Orthodox Church in Greece for the crimes committed by Catholics during the Crusades against Orthodox Christians in Istanbul. The head of the Greek Orthodox Church had conditioned his meeting on the Pope's apology.

Before the meeting of the Expediency Discernment Council, we completed the general policies on national security in the defense sector. In the afternoon, Mr. Abbas Vaez Tabasi and Mr. Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri were my guests, and we discussed the elections. It was decided that the Society of Combatant Clergy in Tehran and the Society of Teachers in Qom would not have a specific candidate and would issue a statement, expressing general views. In the evening, Mr. Mohammad Mohsen Sazegara, the CEO of the Society of Rooz Newspaper, along with Saeed Faeghi, the Technical Deputy of the Physical Education Organization, and Abbas Ghasemi Sharif, the son of Azam Taleghani, visited. Sazegara expressed his candidacy for the presidency and voiced concerns that the Guardian Council might reject his qualifications. He stated that he has repeatedly announced that the driving force behind reforms is the policies of the first and second development plans and the performance of the Reconstruction government. He criticized the performance of the reformists, stating that clergy have been serious and effective whenever involved in issues over the past two centuries.

A group of Hezbollah Lebanon officials visited. General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, reported, and I gave them an encouraging speech.

In the evening, there was a meeting of the heads of the three branches of government at Mr. Mahdi Karroubi's office in the Parliament. Mr. Karroubi recounted his discussions with the Guardian Council regarding the disqualification of most reformist candidates in the midterm parliamentary elections and expressed strong dissatisfaction. It was mentioned that with the influence of Mr. Majid Ansari, a representative from Tehran in the Jamarān neighborhood, two proposals had been introduced in the program law that need to be revised. He stated that Mr. Seyyed Ali Asghar Hejazi from the Leadership Office had called him on a day when he was in Saveh, informing him that Mr. Behzad Nabavi, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, had responded poorly to the Supreme Leader's eight-point directive concerning the fight against corruption. It was decided that the leaders of the three branches would prepare regulations to ensure proper control of the fight against corruption so that it would not deteriorate, similar to the issue of windfall profits.