Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 22, 1999

A group of military commanders of the Lebanese Islamic resistance came. Mr. [Qassem] Soleimani, [Quds Corps Commander] and the commander of the army gave a report and had questions about Iran's economic, political and security situation, as well as the loyalty situation of Sunnis living on the country's borders. I spoke to them about strengthening the path of jihad and resistance and answered their questions.

Mr. [Syderreza] Zavarahi, [head of the Register of Deeds and Real Estate Organization] came and said, the affairs of the country are abandoned and the country is without an owner and the administrations are shaky. He criticized the leadership office for not giving him an appointment, and also criticized Mr. [Mohammed] Yazdi, [head of the judiciary], who did not prevent the country's inspection organization from filing cases against him and his relatives, and also criticized the Ministry of Information.

Mr. [Habibullah] Mohammadian, [representative of the religious jurist in Sistan and Baluchistan province and] Imam Juma Zahedan came. Abba, Qaba, Chai, and Chador brought souvenirs and criticized the weakness of the country's administration, the slowness of construction, the acceleration of Sunnis, Kurds, and Balochists, the chaos of the press, and the claim that political development is new. From the leadership office, he complains about appointing a special representative for Sunnis in Sistan and Baluchistan and not giving a meeting time. Especially since he has many records of friendship with the leadership.

In the evening [Mr. Yusuf Muhammad Al-Samiit], the Minister of Publicity of Kuwait and a large number of companions came. The negotiations were friendly and ceremonial, and he expressed his satisfaction with complaints about Iraq and the trip to Qom.

Mr. [Ali] Younisi came. It has been introduced to the parliament for [getting a vote of confidence for holding] the Ministry of Information. He gave a report on the status of the murder case and said that one of the accused (Sadiq [Mahdavi = Mehrdad Alikhani]) is a Jew whose father converted to Islam and this caused the possibility of Israeli infiltration, in addition to the doubts about Saeed Islami. He consulted for the future of the Ministry of Information. I said, regarding the recent movements of the Kurds in the matter of [Abdullah] Ojalan, the policy of gaining people's trust and cooperation is important, instead of intimidation and vigilance.

Mr. [Alireza] Moiri, our ambassador to France, came. He gave a report on the preparations for Mr. [President] Khatami's trip to France and said that there are two problems that must be resolved; One is that the trip should be of an important and official type, which in France, there are two types of travel and they have not yet accepted it, and also the problem of dinner, as in France, it is customary to have wine at the dinner table. He said, Mr. [Jacques] Chirac, [President of France], has promised to use his influence in the International Monetary Fund to approve the loan requested by Iran.

In the domestic news, the leftist newspapers, there is a lot of noise about the collective disqualification of the [election] council candidates. In foreign news, the issue of Kosovo has become more serious and they have not reached an agreement so far; Although the deadline has been extended for three days, this deadline will end tomorrow. Serbia is against the intervention of NATO forces.

[Mr. Omar al-Bashir], the president of Sudan, has expressed his readiness to negotiate the division of Sudan, which is very strange and unexpected. There are unconfirmed reports of popular opposition in Iraq due to the martyrdom of Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Sadr. Today in Sanandaj, there have been more clashes between the people who have demonstrated for [Abdullah] Ojalan and the police force.