Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - March 21, 2001 - Nowruz Visit by Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad Ali Najafi, Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, Hossein Ghasemi, and Hossein Fereydoun and Report on Their Future Actions and Political Consultations

Nowruz Visit by Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad Ali Najafi, Seyyed Hossein Mousavian, Hossein Ghasemi, and Hossein Fereydoun and Report on Their Future Actions and Political Consultations
Visit by Mostafa Ebrahimi, Fereydoun Fadai, and Masoud Arbab, Managers of the Kish Free Zone Organization

Full Diary Text:

Before noon, I spent my time reading reports and walking along the beach. In the afternoon, Dr. [Hassan] Rouhani, [Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council], Dr. [Mohammad Ali] Najafi, [Head of the Planning and Budget Organization], [Seyyed Hossein] Mousavian, [Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Supreme National Security Council], [Hossein] Ghasemi, [CEO of the Kish Free Zone Organization], and Hossein Fereydoun, [Mr. Rouhani's brother], and their wives arrived. Dr. Najafi mentioned that he has accepted the responsibility for establishing banks and the electronic city project in Kish. He has begun contact to bring fiber optics and stated that with another group, they have prepared 13 important projects to attract surplus currencies for the year 1379 (2000) and submitted them to [Mr. Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami, but no action has been taken so far.

The discussion then turned to the situation where factional conflicts and politicization in the country have reached a point where officials are deprived of the courage to make significant decisions due to concerns about obstruction and attempts to expose potential negative aspects. We also discussed the conditions of the [presidential] elections and potential candidates.

In the evening, Mr. [Mostafa] Ebrahimi, [Fereydoun] Fadai, and [Masoud] Arbab, managers from Kish, came to complain about the detention of [Mr. Mohammad Reza] Yazdanpanah, the former CEO of the Kish Free Zone. They believe the accusation of misconduct or misuse during the sale of the Shayan Hotel is a pretext and that the transaction was conducted fairly and ultimately rescinded; they said it was sold for less than the official appraisal amount. They sought assistance to help him.

In a reactive measure, the U.S. has requested the expulsion of 50 diplomats from the 1,800 Russian diplomats as a consequence of discovering or exposing the espionage of an American for the Russians, having expelled four individuals in the first step. Russia announced that it would reciprocate by expelling 50 out of 1,100 American diplomats, marking a step toward a new Cold War.

In Macedonia, clashes between Albanian revolutionary forces and the Macedonian armed forces have intensified, with the Macedonian army bombing the city of Tetovo, which is a significant center for Albanians, and NATO openly supports the government against the revolutionaries.

In India, a group of Hindus has once again insulted a mosque belonging to Muslims in retaliation for the Taliban's [in Afghanistan] slaughter of 100 cows as an atonement for the delay in destroying the Buddha statues in Bamiyan and to express gratitude for their current success. In Pakistan, a widespread arrest of members of the Democratic Action Front, which has recently been formed to pressure General [Pervez] Musharraf, the chief executive of Pakistan, continues.

The space station continues its descent toward Earth, and one of its engines has been activated to reduce its speed. Two more engines are scheduled to ignite tomorrow near the Earth's atmosphere. It is anticipated that most of it will burn up and be destroyed upon re-entry, with some debris falling into the southern Pacific Ocean.