Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 19, 1996

[First Vice President] Dr. [Hasan] Habibi came and reported the summary of his talks with the Syrian Prime Minister. Then the Prime Minister of Syria and a group of his companions, including several ministers, came. Mr. Mahmoud Al-Zaini has been my guest and host before in the position of Speaker of the Parliament. In the negotiations, he praised Iran's progress and announced that Syria is willing to use Iran's experiences, especially for the construction of steel, silo and cement factories. I also gave a description of the successes and said that we would like to cooperate with other Islamic countries in using our facilities. I asked questions about Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. They are supposed to go to Isfahan and Arak to visit their desired industries.

Mr. [Majid] Hedayatzadeh, our ambassador in Italy, came. He expressed his happiness about the progress of the country and said that after hearing and seeing the successes of the government, the people have taken heart and the foreigners have opened their eyes to us. He had recommendations about export and small industries.

Mr. [Kamal] Kharazi, [Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations] came. He gave a report on the positions of the Americans and on the measures taken to relieve the seizures. America's failure to impose sanctions on others is an unexpected method. A group of freedmen came. Mr. [Ali Akbar] Abu Torabi and [Abbas Ali] Vakili, [head of the headquarters for handling the affairs of freedmen] reported. I also talked about the honors of the free people. In the evening, in the meeting of the government board, we had some resolutions. Mr. Zanganeh [Minister of Energy] came and took Mr. Timurian's plan to transfer water from the Shirvan River to the Zahab Plain.

Ayatollah Khamenei was my guest that night. We discussed about the elections and travel issues in Isfahan and the differences between Mr. [Jalaluddin] Taheri and Mr. [Hossein] Mazaheri and cooperation with Syria and how to get our demand from Syria. I arrived home late.