Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 29, 1997

We went to my office. After doing the work, I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the ECO [Economic Cooperation Organization] Foreign Affairs Ministers' Meeting. Mr. [Boris] Sheikh Muradov from Turkmenistan

Khair Moghaddam said and Mr. Velayati as well. Then I gave a short speech on the importance of eco and the necessity of implementing the previous approvals. At their request, we took a group photo in the yard. The ministers of foreign affairs of Pakistan, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan were the deputy envoys; Pakistan as a protest against the participation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan.

I returned to my office. Expediency Council had a meeting. We approved a part of the [internal] regulations. In the evening [Faisal bin Ali Al Saeed], the Minister of Cultural Heritage of Oman came; The negotiations were formal. He brought a photo of one of the letters of the Prophet (PBUH) to the ruler of Oman with a Persian translation as a gift.

The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution had a meeting with several resolutions. In the reports, the decision of the ministers of foreign affairs of the European Union regarding the return of their ambassadors to Iran and not accepting the sanctions against Iran is of interest, which is interpreted as a failure of America and forcing Europe to adopt its own policy.

Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Mousavi Khooiniha, [Director of Strategic Research Center and Managing Director of Salam Newspaper] came. He expressed his concern about the possibility of the leadership taking a position in the elections in favor of a movement and also about the possibility of the rejection of the parliament's resolution regarding the presence of representatives or election candidates at the polls by the Guardian Council and asked for my opinion on the way they advertise.