Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 14, 1997

Mr. [Mohammed Sharif] Mahdavi, our ambassador in South Africa, came and pleaded for the release of a South African national who has caused tension in relations. [Mr. Vasif Taleb Ouf], Speaker of Nakhchivan Assembly came. He thanked Iran for its services and assistance to Nakhchivan and asked for approval to build a dam on Aras to generate electricity for Nakhchivan, which requires diverting water and then returning it to the river.

I went to the leader's office; For the meeting of the members of the [Assembly] of experts with him. I arrived a little late. Mr. [Ibrahim] Amini, [the second vice president of the Council of Leadership Experts], gave a report on the negotiations and the leaders had a detailed discussion and accepted the problems of Imam Ali (a.s.) series. I told Mr. [Ahmed] Janati and [Gholamreza] Rizvani to send an inspector to Rafsanjan to investigate the complaints.

I returned to my office. The members of the [Council] of experts also came. As usual every year, they were my guests for lunch. Mr. [Ali] Meshkini spoke. They defended their own statements in the experts' meeting about the unconditionality of religious authority to elections and people's votes and did not accept Mr. Amini's conclusion. Mr. Amini, after Mr. [Mohammed Javad] Hojjati Kermani's opposition to Mr. Meshkini's opinions and Mr. [Abul Qasem] Khazali's disagreement with Mr. Hojjati's statements, had made a middle conclusion and stated the same in the presence of the leadership.

They expressed concern about the possible situation after my responsibility. Then I speak

I did and said, today we don't need these debates, because the leadership has reached responsibility through two-stage elections, and these debates cause the enemies to say that the system does not rely on the people's votes. Just as after Mr. Meshkini's speech was published, foreign radio stations have started this discussion. I talked about the progress of the country and the need to guide and maintain public opinion. I had many letters and references. After congregational prayer and lunch, they dispersed. We gave each member a robe and some books as gifts. Because they don't get paid.

In the evening, I went to Saadabad for the second round of negotiations with Turkmen guests. reported the results of the negotiations; They have succeeded in almost all cases. Yesterday evening, their negotiations did not progress. At night, we interrogated several Turkmen ministers in the presence of myself and Mr. Niazoff, and I expressed my dissatisfaction. Mr. Niazoff pressed them. Last night after dinner until midnight, they negotiated and reached the desired results; Especially regarding the construction of the Khatun Bridge dam and the implementation of tripartite agreements with Ukraine and Armenia. The documents were signed in our presence and they left for the [Mehrabad] airport with Dr. Velayati.

I came home in the evening and spent the night studying. Mr. Niyazov requested that our oil minister go to Turkmenistan next week for the agreement on cooperation in the oil industry. He expressed his satisfaction with the progress of the gas pipeline and expressed his displeasure with the fact that some of Iran's proposals are more expensive than others and asked me to stay there for a few days during my next trip.