Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 12, 1987

I was at home. Colonel Jamali [Deputy Commander of the Army Ground Forces] came at half past eight in the morning. He gave a report on the operation situation in Mimak and 402 and future plans. Mr. Mohsen Rezaei informed that the IRGC's listening station in Khark has received an oil tanker's request message from near Kuwait. Probably, it was one of the ships under American escort that was hit by mines. The Ministry of Oil confirmed the message, but it was not confirmed elsewhere. The Americans probably censored to preserve their dignity.

Mr. [Ahmed] Borqani [Farahani] from the [Islamic Republic - IRNA] news agency, reported the rumor of the conflict between the Iranian and American planes and the crash of several planes from both sides and asked permission to broadcast the news. I asked for an explanation from the air and naval forces. They said it was a lie, but finally they had telexed a prime minister's official who was supposed to be followed. Considering that it seems that the Americans want to broadcast such news to make the issue abnormal. They themselves have quoted from obscure sources that two missiles were fired at our planes at the beginning of the week, which [this news] is a lie.

We were guests of Ahmad Agha at night. Ayatollah Khamenei came late. The imam did not want to participate in the meeting due to being late, so they came with our insistence, but they did not sit. While leaving, they said that they were affected by the death of Asid Kamal Shirazi, who died two days ago due to an accident on the way to Qom. He was a person of mysticism and conduct; May Allah's mercy be upon him.

With the presence of the Imam and the leaders of the forces, [Manouchehr] Ghorbhanifar's proposal to negotiate between us and the plenipotentiary representative of France in Turkey was proposed and approved. [Victim Far] made this offer through Kangerlo.

After Imam's departure, the issue of the danger of conflict with America in the Persian Gulf was raised. The presence of French, British and American warships and minesweepers is increasing day by day and the possibility of collision is not low. It was decided to take action to prevent an armed conflict while increasing the defense preparedness through political means. For this purpose, it was decided that Dr. Velayati will travel to Oman and [Mohammed Javad] Larijani will travel to Russia, and it will be done politically by other appropriate means. It was emphasized about the normalization of the situation of the embassies of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. I went home late.