Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 18, 1984

First of all, the president spoke on the phone about the discussed ministers to propose to the parliament. There is no agreement about the Minister of Education. He does not want anyone to come and clear Mr. Parvesh's appointments. Until the evening, I talked about this two or three times with [Mr. Mirhossein Mousavi] the Prime Minister and [Ayatollah Khamenei] the President; No progress was made in this direction. The Minister of Science was also questioned. In the evening, Mr. Prime Minister announced that some MPs are against this haste in introducing the ministers to the parliament. But since the parliament has a summer vacation ahead, the task must be clear.

Mr. [Mohammad Mehdi] Rabbani Amlashi also asked for permission to go to Mecca on the phone, which I did not agree to. Haj Ahmad Agha came and informed that the Imam does not have a special opinion about the Minister of Defense. [because in this case, we had asked the imam] He said [Mr. Mohsen Rezaei], the commander of the IRGC, regularly writes to the Imam that there should be no pressure and haste in carrying out operations. Another suspicion has arisen for some that the IRGC commanders are trying to gain more points by delaying the operation. I do not accept this suspicion.

The Board of Supervisors had a meeting; The Silk Road series was discussed. Also, in the presence of Dr. [Ali Akbar] Velayati, we talked about the quality of radio and television coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They brought us some fresh pistachios from Rafsanjan.

They brought the reports, I read them. Foreign news agencies have relied on my statements - about Iran's retribution and retaliatory policy, and especially about compensating for the mistreatment of our ships by the Egyptians in the Suez Canal; Today, a Panamanian ship has been caught by an invisible gun.