Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 22, 1999

At eleven in the morning, we went to the Koushk Office. I read the newspapers and bulletins. Among domestic issues, the extensive coverage of the impeachment of Mr. [Ataollah] Mohajerani, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance], and the severe attacks by members of Parliament in their pre-agenda speeches on the President’s performance were significant. Also noteworthy was the parliamentary debate over transferring Hamshahri newspaper to the Cultural and Artistic Organization of the [Tehran] Municipality, which is controlled by the right-wing faction, as well as Mr. Khatami’s [President] remarks at the Cabinet meeting in support of Mr. Mohajerani. In Germany, [Mr. Kamal Kharrazi], the Foreign Minister, was attacked by the Mujahedin [= Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization] with eggs and rotten fruit, and one of the embassy personnel was injured.

In the foreign news, attention focused on [Bill Clinton], the U.S. President’s, remarks agreeing to the deployment of ground forces to Kosovo, particularly in light of the warning from Mr. [Boris] Yeltsin, the President of Russia, who predicted the risk of a Third World War if NATO ground forces entered. At the same time, the media reported that an American scientist had said thirty years earlier that the Third World War would begin in Kosovo, a prediction that had so far seemed neither understandable nor credible.

The swimming pool was unusable because too much chlorine gas had entered the water, so I decided not to swim and instead read the bulletins in the courtyard of the office, under the wooden pavilion. Heavy rain was coming down in torrents. Coincidentally, for several weeks now, whenever I have been at Koushk during the day, it has rained. In the afternoon and evening, I spent most of my time at home reading. Among other things, I studied books on ethics and the Gospels of Mark and Luke. Their structure and content were much better than I had imagined.