Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – December 4, 1997

I was at home today. I spent most of the time studying contemporary history and revisiting the memories of 1360 for publication. Ayatollah Khamenei sent the draft of their speech for the Islamic summit [organization of the conference] for consultation; I read it and made some corrections. In my opinion, it is long, which is not suitable for the situation of that intensive meeting; I also mentioned this. But overall it is good. It is written by themselves.

It was in the reports that Mr. [Nursultan] Nazarbayev, who was supposed to participate in the meeting, announced that he would not come, and also in the meeting of experts, there was an objection to the article of the Islamic Republic newspaper, which said, "It is said that Shah Hassan and Shah Hussein will not participate, and if the Shah of Brunei and the Shah of Oman do not come, we will not have a king in the meeting" and they took this as an insult to the leaders. It is inappropriate for the atmosphere of the meeting, which should be accompanied by respect and politeness, and this may cause some people not to come.

There was another report that during the discussion about the situation in Iraq at the meeting of experts on radio and television, a cat made a noise and the representative of Iraq said that it was the sound of the cat and not the cries of the Iraqi children. It was announced today that the government has closed universities and schools in Tehran during the summit meeting, which is not appropriate and will not have good interpretations.

In foreign reports, the dissolution of the Indian Parliament and the call for a strike by the Bangladeshi parties due to the government's contract with the rebels, as well as the International Monetary Fund's $55 billion aid to South Korea to save the Korean economy from a severe crisis, are of interest, especially since Korea was known as a successful country in the economy until recently. Our ambassador in Saudi Arabia informed that [Amir Abdullah], the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, has proposed and wishes to be my guest at home on the first night in Iran; I accepted