Until eleven in the morning, I studied the history of early Islam, the Umayyads, and the Marwanids in preparation for tomorrow’s Friday sermon. I went to the Koushk Office.
Until eleven in the morning, I studied the history of early Islam, the Umayyads, and the Marwanids in preparation for tomorrow’s Friday sermon. I went to the Koushk Office. Until four in the afternoon, I read the bulletins and newspapers and used the swimming pool.
In the afternoon, I studied in the yard at home. I also spent some time playing spring games with an Afghan girl, the granddaughter of Shirin Khanom, who occasionally comes to our house to work. The poor child recently lost her mother, but she does not seem to be in low spirits. I gave her my glass of watermelon juice. She became attached to me, to the point that she expected me to play ball with her. I felt sorry for the Afghan refugees. The leaders of the various factions and ethnic groups will not let this war-torn country find peace.
There are several noteworthy issues in the reports. Domestically, today the Islamic city and village councils officially began their work at a formal ceremony, with a message from the Leader and remarks by the President. In Tehran, the Ministry of Interior paid no attention to the Oversight Board’s decision regarding the disqualification of five elected members, and they attended the official ceremony. Mr. [Abdollah] Nouri was also elected chairman of the Tehran City Council. Apparently, neither side is prepared to back down, and the dispute will continue.
Today, the Palestinian National Council approved postponing the declaration of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories until after the Israeli elections. Under the peace agreement, the declaration was supposed to take place on May 4. This retreat is a defeat for [Yasser] Arafat, [head of the Palestine Liberation Organization], who had presented himself as determined, while [Benjamin] Netanyahu, [Prime Minister of Israel], who had threatened that such a declaration would halt the peace process, has prevailed. It may also work to his advantage in the domestic elections, contrary to the Arabs’ policy.
[Viktor] Chernomyrdin, [Russia’s special envoy], went to Yugoslavia for a second time to mediate. NATO insists that its forces must be present in Kosovo to monitor the implementation of autonomy, while [Slobodan] Milošević, [President of Yugoslavia], has agreed to the presence of United Nations forces, not NATO forces. The U.S. Congress, after approving $11 billion in funding for the Balkan war, has prohibited the government from deploying ground forces to Kosovo, which in itself gives Yugoslavia a green light to remain defiant.
The U.S. government has officially announced that it has lifted the sanctions on the export of food and medicine to Iran, Libya, and Sudan. Apparently, the decision was prompted by pressure from American farmers, whose wheat and other agricultural products have been left unsold, but it has been presented as a humanitarian measure. In reality, it is an advantage for the Americans themselves, and the same situation may arise with the oil industry, because the oil companies are also exerting pressure; they have fallen behind their European competitors.
In the newspapers and political circles, debate over the impeachment of [Mr. Ataollah Mohajerani], Minister of [Culture and] Islamic Guidance, is extremely heated, and the Islamic Republic News Agency is also fueling the issue by reporting extensively on the various views and news surrounding it. In the afternoon, Ayatollah Khamenei called and said that Mr. [Morteza] Moqtadaei, [Prosecutor General], had not properly followed His view, which emphasized enforcement of the law in the case involving the Tehran Municipality, and had signed the order and referred it to the Justice Department. However, Mr. [Ali] Razini had been explicitly instructed not to enforce it for the time being. He asked me what I would say tomorrow at Friday prayers about Mr. Mohajerani’s impeachment. I said that I intended to say nothing. He agreed with this and said that although He no longer considered Mr. Mohajerani fit to serve as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, He had not said anything to the members of Parliament about the matter and had left the decision to them.
At night, Dr. [Ali-Akbar] Velayati, [the Leader’s Adviser on International Affairs], and Dr. Ali Larijani, [head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting], came. They also wanted to know what I would say about the impeachment at Friday prayers the following day, and when they learned that I would say nothing, they were relieved. It appears that the right-wing faction is very concerned about tomorrow’s Friday sermon. They then spoke about the dangers surrounding the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections and admitted that no one but me could set things right. I said that the actions of your associates were continually making the situation worse, including their treatment of Faezeh and the Zan newspaper. In general, figures such as [Hossein] Allahkaram, Mansour Arzi, and [Masoud] Dehnamaki and others were making the right-wing faction increasingly unpopular, and respectable people were unwilling to join such a movement.
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