Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 12, 1987

First of all, I told Dr. Rouhani to arrange a spore site for the operation in the northwest. Together with the commander of the base, we visited the base by car. Mr. Atziri, political deputy of East Azerbaijan Governorate, came with us for explanations. We passed through the streets of Tabriz. He explained the situation of the people of the city, the counter-revolution, the Muslim People's Party, fuel, facilities and officials of the province, and spoke about the spirit of the people after the bombing of Tabriz. We saw some damage from the bombing. They still haven't been able to compensate for the broken glass; They lack glass.

We left for Ahar at half past eight. The road is broken and full of bumps. We passed through the city of Ahar, the road became dirt and until the Soviet border, the mountain road was dirt and bad. We had lunch at a place called Pasgah, which also had a silo, by the river. The pastures of the mountains and highlands are becoming green. In many places, there is still snow. At four o'clock in the afternoon, we arrived at a border post on the banks of the Aras river on the Soviet border. The deputy head of the checkpoint knew very little about the situation on the opposite border. We watched Russian facilities and buildings with a camera. They said that the opposite town is called "Sultanli".

From there we moved towards Parsabad Moghan. We got off somewhere by the [Ars] river and watched. It has a lot of water. Then we went to Aslan Doz. There, a diversion dam was built with the participation of the Russians and diverted the Aras water towards the lands of Iran and Russia. It seems that every country can take a share of about eighty cubic meters of water per second, and we are now taking about sixty cubic meters per second and planting the lands of the Moghan Plain. It is a huge water and a big project.

Captain Mozafari, the commander of Aslan Doz border battalion, gave a good explanation of the border situation on both sides. The Russians are better off than us. They have better controlled their waters and have many access roads to the border road; We have less, they have more force and both barbed wire and telephone network for outposts, which we don't have. We visited the huge water transfer channel. We went to the city of Parsabad. Due to the development of the Mughan plain, it is expanding rapidly.

We visited the lands of the Mughan Plain and the Mughan Agriculture Company. We went to the guest house at night. A group of guests were there. Because of us, they were transferred to a house, which made me very sad.

Engineer Fathi, deputy of Dr. [Isa] Kalantari [CEO of Moghan Agriculture and Industry Company], gave explanations about Moghan Agriculture and Industry Company, Aras, Dam, lands, products, gardens, factories, livestock, expenses, personnel and people's lands. Russian TV [= Soviet Union] is better seen here than our own TV. I showered and slept.