Memories of Akbar Hashemi - June 21, 2001 - Meeting and Extremely Important Report by Hassan Rouhani with Hashemi Regarding Disputes Between the Guardian Council and the Ministry of Interior Over Millions of Votes

An extremely important report by Hassan Rouhani to Hashemi regarding the disputes between the Guardian Council and the Ministry of Interior over millions of votes, which was resolved through the intervention of Ayatollah Khamenei. The meeting also involved discussions about whether Seyyed Mohammad Khatami should remain as the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, with Hashemi recommending that he should stay. (In a separate note, I mentioned the disagreement of approximately 4 million votes between the Guardian Council and the Ministry of Interior during the reform era.)

Meeting with Riccardo Sa, the Italian ambassador in Tehran, emphasizing a longer-than-usual meeting with him.

Meeting with Brigadier General Kiomars (Abdullah) Aghabayi, the first commander of the Greater Tehran Police and head of the Security Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, who had recently been released from prison. He expressed grievances against General Seyyed Hassan Firouzabadi for creating a case against him and requested Hashemi’s intervention to resolve the case in the Tehran Military Court and prosecutor's office. The fate of that case was not disclosed, and for some time, Aghabayi was appointed as Deputy Governor of Sistan and Baluchestan.

Meeting with officials from Baqir al-Uloom University in Qom, who provided a report on the university's activities.

Interview with Al-Manar TV.

Full Text of the Daily Record:

In the morning, Mr. [Riccardo] Sa, the Italian ambassador, came to visit. He expressed satisfaction with the state of relations and cooperation, stating that you laid the groundwork for this good relationship. He added that despite the changing policies of the European Union, the Italian government continues to cooperate with Iran and is currently a focal point for other countries. He noted that despite the rapid changes in Italian governments, the foreign policy of the country usually does not waver. In the 55 years following World War II, 58 governments have changed in Italy, and [Giulio] Andreotti has served as prime minister seven times. The meeting with ambassadors took longer than usual.

Prince [Abdullah] Aghabayi came; he was recently released from prison on bail and expressed grievances. He holds Dr. [Hassan] Firouzabadi, the head of the Armed Forces General Staff, responsible for the problems regarding his case and sought assistance. A group of managers and professors from Baqir al-Uloom University in Qom visited. Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad Taqi] Al-Ghafouri, Dr. [Ali Reza] Sadra, Dr. [Mahdi] Abolhasani, Dr. [Davood] Firahi, Dr. Ahmad Iranmanesh, [Najaf Lakzai], and Gholamhossein Moghimy provided a report on their educational status and requested my help to strengthen their academic level. They have 800 students in philosophy, theology, history, and political science, stating that their graduates constitute 40% of doctoral acceptances in these fields at state universities.

In the afternoon, I had an interview with Al-Manar TV; it is affiliated with Hezbollah Lebanon and has a large audience through satellite across most parts of the world, enjoying good credibility due to Hezbollah's victories over Israel. The majority of the discussions focused on Palestine and Lebanon, with some commentary on internal issues.

Dr. [Hassan] Rouhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, came to visit. He expressed concern about the current and future state of the country, considering the government's situation and leadership policies. He mentioned having a meeting with Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami, noting that he did not observe a good spirit in him. He reported that the Guardian Council and the Ministry of Interior had a dispute over several million votes, which had been resolved with the leadership's intervention. He had questions about our policy concerning Iraq and whether he should remain in the Supreme National Security Council; I advised him to stay.