Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 4, 1989

After the prayer, I went to the assembly. The members of the presidium of the Majlis of Experts were sleeping in the Majlis at night. We had breakfast together and discussed the program of the expert meeting. Last night until this morning, experts from around the country had arrived in Tehran.

They informed that the session of the Islamic Council is ready. I went there. The meeting was closed. The representatives were aware of the Imam's death. When I arrived, the representatives and I cried a lot. I talked to them a little about Imam's death. The meeting was informal. We have extended the term of office for one week, because it will end in two or three days and next week after the holidays when the parliament starts working, the term of the board will be over. With this extension, the problem was solved.

We prepared a statement for the assembly of experts and gave it for publication. Around eight thirty in the morning, the meeting of the Assembly of Experts was prepared and we announced the formality of the meeting under the chairmanship of Ayatollah Meshkini. They spoke briefly.

Imam's will was in the safe deposit box in my office. We took it to the meeting and the seal was broken in the official meeting. We took out the will from the envelope. It was written in 1361 and revised last year. At the end of the will, it was written to be read to the people by Ahmad Agha, the president, the speaker of the parliament, the president of the Supreme Court, or a member of the Guardian Council. Mr. Ahmad informed that he was not ready. It was the turn of the president [Ayatollah Khamenei]. He read the will to the audience. The audience of the meeting were experts, MPs, members of the government, the Guardian Council and the Supreme Judicial Council and others. The reading of the will took about two and a half hours. The meeting ended around noon.

I went to my office. Lunch, prayer and rest were done and then I went to the Majlis Hall to continue the meeting of experts. With Mr. Meshkini's short speech, the meeting started and I also explained the topic of the discussion. This meeting continued until half past seven in the afternoon with a breather.

There were many discussions. Some were in favor of council leadership and some wanted individual leadership. Some suggested Ayatollah Khamenei and some suggested Ayatollah [Syed Mohammad Reza] Golpayegani, and names were also mentioned for the council. Previously, in the consultations of the heads of the forces and a group of elders, we had come to the conclusion that a council consisting of Ayat Khamenei, Mousavi Ardabili and Meshkini would assume the leadership, but in the negotiations, individual leadership won more votes. Ayatollah Khamenei opposed individual leadership. I also disagreed. The turn did not come. First, Ayatollah Golpayegani was proposed by the members of the seminary community [Qom Theological Seminary] who were members of the Assembly of Experts. About 14 people voted for him. Then the proposal of Ayatollah Khamenei's leadership was proposed. He himself went behind the podium and said that I agree with the leadership of a council according to the constitution and I am against individual leadership. So how do I get engaged?

As I chaired the meeting, I said that now with the opinion of the experts, individual leadership has become a law and there is no other way. Finally, Mr. Khamenei voted with 60 votes out of 74 members present and this important issue was resolved so well. I also spoke briefly on several issues and quoted Imam's opinions about Mr. Khamenei's leadership qualifications. According to Haj Ahmad Agha and Ayatollah Mousavi Ardabili, who were in the Imam's service meeting, the same themes were confirmed.

The news of the readiness of Iraqi forces in front of the Ain Khosh region, which was received by Dr. [Hassan] Rouhani during the meeting and I informed the meeting, had a great impact on the readiness of the experts to finish the work; It is a great success.

I came to my office. The parliamentarians were gathered. They asked me to explain to them the process of the meeting of experts; I accepted A text was prepared to confirm and sign this choice. Some radicals disagree.

Ayatollah Khamenei came, we talked about how to perform leadership duties. It was decided that they would confirm the rulings of the election or the appointment of the imam, and it was decided that I would tell the radio station to pay the necessary attention to the matter. We made important decisions together.

Shab Efat informed that due to the large number of people coming and going to Imam's House and the adjacent alley, there is not enough security at home and it is better to stay in the Majlis. I accepted