Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 25, 1996

[Mr. John Tomoglu], the Greek ambassador, came to say goodbye. He was born and raised in Egypt and speaks good Arabic. With the new agreement between Türkiye and Israel, there is a favorable ground for more cooperation with Greece.

[Mr. Ali Mohammad Basharti], the country minister and the officials of the election came. They gave a work report and I also spoke to them and, referring to the problems they had with the Guardian Council, thanked and praised the Ministry of Interior for maintaining its neutrality in the elections.

The Export Council had a meeting. We examined the export situation in 1374; Due to the restrictions created in the stabilization of the exchange rate, it has become less than in 2013. We had approvals to encourage non-oil exports.

In the evening, I did not go to the meeting of the government board to do the remaining work. Mr. [Ali] Fallahian, [Information Minister] came. He reported that Ayatollah Montazeri recently told [his son-in-law] Sayyed Hadi Hashemi that he has changed his opinion about velayat-e-faqih and considers it to be a tyranny and that it should be at the level of the Supreme Council and not interfere in the affairs of the government except for judicial orders.

Mr. [Ali] Shamkhani, [commander of the navy] came. About the anti-trafficking program at sea by the Navy, an order was received; They have many facilities and can deal better than Naja [= police force]. It was discussed about the involvement of the IRGC in the elections; I said it was to the detriment of the IRGC and the elections. He said, once the elections are over, the case of these divisive sections should be closed.

In the reports, the continuation of the war in Lebanon and the killing of Johar Dudayev, the leader of Chechen independence fighters, are of interest. These days we usually have rain and spring is rainy.