Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 29, 1982

We postponed the weekly open session to tomorrow out of consideration for the representatives who had traveled to the provinces to speak at the commemoration ceremonies for the June 28 martyrs. At 10:00 AM, the Supreme Defense Council held a meeting at the President's office. The withdrawal of the Iraqi army from towns and residential areas in the west of the country was examined, and it became clear that they have remained on some of the Iranian heights along the borders. This very fact proves Saddam's warmongering objectives, showing that such withdrawals are mostly for promotional purposes, used to consolidate and reinforce their own forces. Cabinet changes have taken place in Iraq, but they are superficial.

We also made decisions regarding future operations, our promotional stance, and the non-deployment of forces to Syria. Overall, we concluded that this was a well-founded decision.

In the afternoon, I had several meetings at the Majlis. Representatives from the IRGC Medical Corps came and had proposals regarding the need for greater influence of Hezbollah-aligned physicians in the Ministry of Health.

The Libyan ambassador came but had no new matters to discuss. He had requested a meeting some time ago, his turn came today, and the context of his previous topic had already passed. He stated that Mr. [Muammar] Gaddafi [leader of Libya] had approved our agreements with [Abdessalam] Jalloud.

The Syrian ambassador visited and expressed satisfaction that we prioritized the war with Iraq and that no pressure was being placed on them to continue the war by sending troops. He mentioned that Israel had utilized new, unknown weapons and that they did not wish to fight them for the time being.

The Chargé d'Affaires of the Soviet Embassy came, expressing concern over the disappearance of one of their embassy diplomats—who was apparently a Western spy—who had fled to Turkey, where his car was found near the border. He was reluctant to believe that he had defected and presented some evidence to that effect.

At night, Mehdi and I stayed at the Majlis. We had Ash Reshteh for Iftar. Mehdi had eaten a hamburger outside. The Indian ambassador also came and invited me to visit India, which I accepted.