Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 7, 2003

I worked at home and at the office; I read the draft of the vision for the country’s situation over the next ten years, which will be the basis for the Fourth Development Plan, as well as documents related to the International Atomic Energy Agency, contracts and inspections, and part of the memoirs of Shaaban Jafari (Shaaboon Bi-Mokh), who went to America after the Revolution. The news of the release of a group of detained students with the approval of the Leader, based on Islamic compassion, is receiving media attention.

In foreign media, the positions of Mr. Hossein Khomeini [in Iraq] are attracting attention, and now, with the admission of official American officials, it has become clear that he is coordinating with the Americans. They have written that he is staying at the home of Izzat Ibrahim, [Saddam Hussein’s deputy], and that many facilities are at his disposal, and that his interview, in his own voice, was broadcast on Voice of America, repeating everything that the Imam’s household had denied. The Americans think he can have influence, without considering that at the beginning of the Revolution as well he had taken an opposing position and, by the order of the Imam, was confined to his home, and the media were prohibited from reporting his statements. It is clear that they cannot use him against the direction of Imam’s ideas merely because of his name and lineage. It is only effective for a few days as a propaganda ploy.

In Iraq, attacks against the Americans and the harsh treatment and widespread arrests of Iraqi people by American forces continue. Today, with the explosion of a bomb-laden truck in front of the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, 17 people were killed and 57 were injured, including the Jordanian consul among the wounded. Iraq’s Ministry of Oil has canceled all oil contracts between China and Iraq that had been signed during Saddam [Hussein]’s time, one of which was worth 700 million dollars.

In Afghanistan as well, the extent of the clashes has led to renewed bombing of southeastern areas, and insecurity has expanded.

Mr. [Heydar] Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, who had been hospitalized in Ankara for the past month [due to cancer], was taken to America for further treatment, and his son Ilham, at his request, was appointed prime minister by the parliament, while waves of opposition to this appointment continue in the form of demonstrations.

China has warned Taiwan that if it seeks to hold a referendum on independence, it will come under attack. [Charles] Taylor, the president of Liberia, who was supposed to bid farewell to lawmakers in parliament today, did not keep his promise.