Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - April 21, 2002

Mohsen Duago, the Friday Imam of Lavasanat [and the representative of the Supreme Leader in Asia-Pacific Student Affairs] criticizes the situation in the country and the Supreme Leader's indecisiveness in the face of misbehavior

He insisted that I run for the presidency and said that he did not know any other suitable person, and I refused.
                  
Full text of the diary:

Mr. Mohsen Duago, the Friday Imam of Lavasanat [and the representative of the Supreme Leader in the affairs of the students of Asia and the Pacific], came. He appreciated my positions in his conversation with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, criticized the situation in the country and the lack of decisiveness of the leadership in the face of misconduct, and expressed concern about the lack of seriousness of the government in the management of the country's affairs, especially in construction, development, and the elimination of unemployment, and asked me to help him to form an organization of committed Iranian graduates abroad. He insisted that I be a candidate for the next presidential election and said that he did not know any other suitable person, and I refused.

Mr. [Nasser Yamin] Mardukhi Kurdistani, [poet and journalist] came. He complains about the 2nd of Khordad and says that he has helped Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad Khatami] a lot in the elections, and that they have not known salt about the election of Mr. [Abdullah] Ramazanzadeh, the governor of Kurdistan – whom he has seen as unsuitable for Kurdistan and has opposed him – and other issues. He insisted that I prepare for the next presidency, but I refused, and said that in intellectual circles, they yearn for the period of construction, and the people of Kurdistan today say that work has been done for the province during that period.  

In the evening, Mrs. [Shafiqa] Rahideh, [the head of the Red Crescent Medical Equipment Company], the wife of Dr. [Hassan] Habibi, came and reported on the work she has done to produce medical needs, establish ophthalmology, and control the production line of herbal medicines, and said that the Ministry of Health is sabotaging work, there is no one in the government to deal with the problems, and there is no discipline in the construction period in the organs.  

Mohsen, [the chairman of the board of directors and CEO of the Tehran Metro Company], had lunch with me and said that he had resigned from the CEO of the metro so that only the chairman of the board of directors of the metro would remain, but [Mr. Mohammad Hassan Malekmadani], the mayor of [Tehran], would not accept it.

In Palestine, a number of people are martyred and injured every day, and Israel, which had promised the United States that it would not retreat today, deceitfully left one place and entered another. After visiting the Jenin camp, U.N. envoy [Terry Roed-Larsen] said it was horrible, and [Russian envoy Andrei Vodwin] said it was a great tragedy. [Javier Solana], the representative of the European Union, said that it is deplorable and that Israel brazenly says that the Palestinians have destroyed their homes on their own.

In the French presidential election, it is predicted that [Jacques] Chirac and [Lionel] Jospin will both have about 20 percent of the vote. The U.S. Senate has approved that people from several countries, including Iran, will not be able to go to the United States.