Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 14, 1986

I was at home until two o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. Ahmad came. He informed that Mr. Montazeri had come to visit the Imam and the Imam had reminded him of two issues: 1- Paying more attention to the army and the war 2- Equal treatment with pro-revolutionary clerics and not favoring a particular trend. He also informed that Mr. Seyed Reza Sadr was summoned for information during the death of the late Shariatmadari and was delayed for several hours and Mr. Montazeri objected to this. Mr. Montazeri's opinion was that it would have been better to hold a funeral and eulogy for Mr. Shariatmadari.

Mr. Sayad Shirazi has resigned from the command of the ground forces as a protest against the appointment of Mr. Mohsen Rezaei as my successor and has sent a copy to me and the Imam. I asked the reason on the phone; Because he had accepted it yesterday. He said I was surprised yesterday. Mr. [Colonel Ismail] Sohrabi, the [army] chief of staff, also came and was against the replacement of Mr. Rezaei, saying that it would weaken the morale of the army. I discussed the situation with Mr. Ahmad. His opinion is that we should not take back our words. Mr. Rezaei could not form his headquarters for this reason. This trend will create a problem in the war. It should be done delicately.

I came to the assembly in the evening. I spoke for exemplary guards and honorary guards. Two thousand students from universities all over the country, who were going to the front, came in front of the parliament.

I spoke for them.

I did not go home at night. On the first night, we had a meeting in Mr. [Ayatollah] Khamenei's office with the presence of the prime minister to discuss the issue of the ground force whose commander has resigned. We discussed several assumptions and decided to follow. Today passed with sadness because of the damage these issues bring to the war. I stayed the night in the parliament.