Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 8, 2003

[Mr. Hossein bin Ali Al-Dosari], the ambassador of Qatar, came. He said that America is seeking to pressure the Islamic world. It will not succeed in Iraq, and the roadmap plan for Palestine will lead nowhere. Despite the fact that Qatar fully cooperates with America and Qatar is a center for American troops, he expresses such a view. I confirmed that America is ultimately in a quagmire in Iraq.

[Mr. Ali Tahqiqi], the new ambassador of Iran to Sierra Leone, came. He mostly criticized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its lack of attention to America and praised the views and actions of the Construction Government (dowlat-e sazandegi) in developing relations with Africa.

In the evening, [Mr. Mohammad] Jafari Gilani, [Head of the Islamic Propagation Office of Qom], [Mostafa] Mohami, [Director of the Quranic Culture and Teachings Center], and [Ali] Khorasani, [Director of the Quran Encyclopedia], came. They brought four volumes of Farhang-e Quran (The Culture of the Quran) and one volume of the Quran Encyclopedia, which are ready for publication, to obtain final approval. This is an important work and the result of the three years of my imprisonment in Evin, which is being compiled utilizing Quranic work and collective work by other researchers. They complained about the problems of high prices, unemployment, and industrial stagnation, and expressed concern about the danger from America. I said: So far, America's actions have turned out in Iran's favor; the elimination of Saddam and the Taliban, the restriction of the MKO (hypocrites), America getting bogged down in those two countries, and Iran benefiting. And God willing, the future will also turn out in Iran's favor.

Today, there was a great deal of tension in the parliament (Majlis), due to a confrontation between reformist (Mosharekat) representatives and their opponents over the letter of 127 people to the Leader, the Supreme National Security Council's prevention of its publication, the intense pressure in the provinces against the signatories, and criticism of Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami over the resolution of the Supreme National Security Council. Mr. [Mehdi] Karroubi, [the Speaker of the Parliament], approved the resolution and asked the representatives to end this discussion. Some newspapers published the document of Mr. [Mohammad Taghi] Mesbah [Yazdi]'s statements about American spies paying money to government officials, and some criticized it.

In Baghdad, two Americans were killed and a number wounded, and the police chief was killed. In protests against the invaders, American forces raided the office of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) in Baghdad and arrested one person.