Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 18, 1988

At a quarter to three in the morning, we woke up to have breakfast and had breakfast with Eft, Mehdi and Yaser. I got information from the IRGC headquarters about the Faw front. They said that a defense line has been formed three kilometers from the city and fresh troops are arriving. The enemy must be bringing in new forces. Mr. [Alireza] Afshar informed Mr. [Ali] Shamkhani that Iraq has deployed 25 brigades from two corps and is using many chemical bombs.

At dawn, the situation turned red and they informed that a rocket had hit Qom. I woke up at quarter past seven and got the news. There is no new situation on the front. A missile also hit Tehran. I told Mr. [Syed Kamal] Kharazi to spread the notice of invitation to IRGC forces.

I went to the parliament. The reports were about Iraqi forces putting more pressure on our forces in Faw and their approach to the city of Arvand and cutting off our communication bridge, and around noon they informed us that our forces have decided to withdraw from Faw; I was very impressed. We had no choice. If I had ordered more resistance, we would have had to accept more casualties, which would not have resulted in certainty.

It was reported that America attacked two oil platforms, Nasr and Salman, and set them on fire. They were ordered to attack the UAE oil platform. After our attack, an American tug that was there sank and a British oil tanker caught fire, and then we attacked two other oil tankers in that area. The Americans attacked our missile frigate and sank it, and several of its crew members were martyred.

Last night, the news came that two warships, Sahand and Sablan, were attacked. One drowned and the other was seriously injured. In the evening, Mr. Sayad [Shirazi] came and reported the operation of Jerusalem 5.

I gave an interview to the TV to invite the troops to the front. I came home before breaking the fast. I am not feeling well. I decided to go south tomorrow to check the situation after leaving Faw. At night [Mr. Gholamreza] Aghazadeh [Oil Minister] informed that the fire of the oil platforms has been extinguished.