Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 3, 1997

The graduation ceremony of the first year students of Shahid University was held at the [Presidential] institution. The report of Dr. [Ahmad Ali] Nurbala, [President of Shahid University] and Dr. [Farishte] Baqaei, [President of the School of Dentistry] and the swearing-in ceremony of the dental graduates and awarding and presentation of a plaque of thanks by Mr. [Mohammad Hassan] Rahimian, President of the Shahid Foundation, and my talks on the development of the university and the importance of Shahid's educational and cultural plan in Shahid University.

Mr. [Gholamreza] Faruzesh, [Minister of Jihad Sazendagi] came. He was happy about the election results; He has been depressed until now. The report brought the contents of the Caspian waterway and the Persian Gulf and announced the purchase of a huge spinning and weaving factory in Zimbabwe. I was scheduled to participate in the thanksgiving ceremony of the jihadists.

Mr. [Ali] Razini, [Chief Justice of Tehran Province] came. Some of the amazingness of the election results is that even in the IRGC centers, despite the pressure of the IRGC commanders, the vote for Mr. Natiq [Nuri] was insignificant, and for example, Mr. Natiq had less than 15% of votes in the town of Shahid Mahalati. He applied for the financial needs of the judicial system.

[Mr. Gholamreza Aghazadeh], the oil minister came. He gave the completion report of Bandar Abbas Refinery and asked permission to name it after me. I said it should not happen during my presidency. He said Mr. Khatami invited him to continue the work of the ministry. I also welcomed and told him to accept.

In the evening, Messrs. [Qassem] Soleimani, [Mortaza] Ghorbani and [Mohammed Jaafar] Asadi, from the commanders of the IRGC, came and expressed their concern about Mr. Mohsen Rezaei's decision to resign from the IRGC and asked us to prevent it and if we could not, help him for his next job. They expect to become the first deputy, or the country's minister.

The Supreme Administrative Council had a meeting. We transferred the strategic studies office from the presidential institution to the Expediency Council. We went to Akhtar Hospital for teeth correction, then to Imam's Shrine. Because of the anesthetic injection, the position of my mouth was difficult for the speech, but it got better by ten o'clock at night when it was time for the speech. A large crowd had come for the Imam's anniversary ceremony. My speech was about the importance of Imam's role in the revolution. I arrived home late.