Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 16, 2003

I read the reports. Last night, there were student movements in Isfahan, Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, Bandar Abbas, Kerman, and other cities, and [George] Bush, the US President, has officially supported them. With the arrest of Saeed Askar, [the person who attempted to assassinate Mr. Saeed Hajjarian], and the condemnation of the attack by plainclothes agents on them [the students], the pressure on them has decreased and their movements are weakening. [Mohsen] Sazegara, a [political activist], and his son have also been arrested as instigators, and he has gone on a hunger strike.

[Mr. Mohammad Ali Tarfeh], the managing director of the Isfahan Regional Water Organization, and his colleagues, [Mr. Ali Aslani, Mansour Shishehforoush, Mohammad Momtazpour, Fereydoun Ghamsari, and Reza Aghaei], came. They gave a report on the progress of the third Koohrang tunnel and Cheshmeh Langan, and the plan to transfer water from Beheshtabad to the Zayandeh Rud river, and asked us to support it against opposition from Khuzestanis and Chaharmahalis. They said that currently, more than 20 billion cubic meters of the 38 billion cubic meters of Khuzestan's annual water flow into the sea.

Accompanied by [Mr. Seyyed Mahmoud Hosseini], the Governor, who accompanied us everywhere during these two days, we went to the Shah Abbasi Hotel to open a seminar on intellectual property in the handicrafts sector. Mr. [Yadollah] Tahernejad, [the head of the Handicrafts Organization], Mr. [Mohammad Reza] Alizadeh, the head of the Documents Registration Organization, and the Governor gave reports and welcome speeches. I also spoke about the just, humanitarian, and developmental effects of protecting intellectual property.

From there, we went to the nuclear energy industrial zone. We visited the UCF (Uranium Conversion Facility) and Zirconium production sections. The zirconium production furnace has been started, which is important for manufacturing nuclear fuel rods. We visited three units of the uranium processing facility up to the UF6 level; it has not yet reached production, but they are confident it will.

After resting, we flew back to Tehran. During the flight, Mr. [Gholamreza] Aghazadeh, [the head of the Atomic Energy Organization], expressed optimism about the results of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) Board of Governors meeting, which began today in Vienna. The US and its allies are actively seeking to condemn Iran, and political circles worldwide are following the matter with great sensitivity.

In Iraq today, six Americans were killed at Baghdad airport and one in Najaf. Mehdi said that Mr. [Ahmed] Chalabi, [the Secretary-General of the Iraqi National Congress], has sent a message from Iraq that the US is establishing a base in Iraq for instigating activities in Iran.

I went to my office and worked until nine at night. I came home. Faezeh, Mona, and Ali have come from London.