Memories of Akbar Hashemi - January 18, 2002 - Meeting with Mohammad Ali Hadi and His Wife, Criticism of Government Foreign Policies and Decisions by Ayatollah Khamenei, and Hashemi's Emphasis on Similar Criticism by Kamal Kharrazi, the Foreign Minister

Complete Daily Report:

I was at home. I studied my own works and notes for preparing the memoirs of the first two years of the revolution and also read another part of the memoirs of Naja al-Mulk's trip to Khuzestan, which explains the situation in Khuzestan a century ago well. This includes the dilapidation of most cities, dams, and levees on the Karun and other rivers, the Arab opposition to regional development out of fear of the increased presence of Persians and Bakhtiari people, and the presence of large boats of about 40 tons between Ahvaz and Dezful in the Karun River. The serious backwardness of Khorramshahr compared to Basra and the emigration of the people of Khuzestan to the Ottoman Empire from Iraq are noteworthy. Interestingly, today, they play the same negative role in regional development and oppose significant projects like the Khuzestan sugarcane plan, perhaps for the same reason.

In the afternoon, the kids and relatives were our guests. In the evening, Dr. [Mohammad Ali] Hadi, [the Deputy for Consular and Parliamentary Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs], and his wife visited. He mentioned that we could have obtained concessions from the U.S. regarding Afghanistan but unfortunately did not take advantage of the opportunity, blaming the leadership for not allowing a deal with America. Mr. [Kamal] Kharrazi, [the Foreign Minister], had also previously criticized this matter. Mr. Hadi said the government had once again approved the re-issuance of visas that had been canceled for the countries of the southern Persian Gulf, expressing his displeasure that the Foreign Ministry, for the sake of short-term income, was losing significant national revenues that could be gained from Arab travelers visiting Iran. Their excuse was to control members of al-Qaeda.

The U.S. is dissatisfied that Afghan Pashtuns are not cooperating with them to find Mullah Omar and bin Laden and [members of] al-Qaeda. The interim government of Afghanistan has launched extensive propaganda that the promised aid currencies from Bonn [Germany] will not be delivered. There are numerous problems; fuel prices in Afghanistan have become extremely high and scarce, and the severe cold is unbearable.

Yesterday, a Palestinian from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade carried out a martyrdom-seeking operation, attacking a celebration of Israeli settlers in northern Israel, then killed himself and injured 33 people. In retaliation, Israel bombed Tulkarm and tightened the siege on [Yasser] Arafat, [the head of the Palestinian Authority]. Arafat has been under surveillance in his office in Ramallah for three weeks.