Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 14, 1999

I had an interview with Sedavasima for the anniversary of the Expediency Council, where I explained its function and legal status. Mr. [Gholamreza] Frouzesh, [Member of Tehran City Council] came. He thanked Yasir and Faiza for helping him in the election campaigns and said that 500 former Jihadi colleagues have worked in his campaign headquarters. The Ministry of Interior considers the possibility of fraud in the counting of votes as serious, and like Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Ghori says, first of all, when it turned out that they are ahead of others, the leftists probably planned to rig the votes. He consulted for the politics of the Tehran administration, as well as the election of the mayor of Tehran, and expressed his approval and happiness for the position of the vice president of the research center [Strategic Expediency Recognition Council].

Mr. [Habibullah] Ajaibi, Deputy [Employment] Minister of Labor and Social Affairs came and said, today workers, employers and industrial owners appreciate the services and programs of your government. He expressed concern about the speed of unemployment growth and its dangerousness for the future and said that the unemployment rate, which was reduced to 9% at the end of the construction government, has now reached 14% and is constantly increasing. Because 700,000 jobs should be created annually for new job seekers and 100,000 jobs for the current unemployed, which the government does not provide half of these numbers with its programs.

One of the problems of many industrial units at work is the effect of low liquidity or currency

He said and complained about the pressure that came after me to change the labor law. He considers the danger of division and conflict of political groups to be important and he complained about the impudence of some colleagues of my government in the current situation that they do not defend their proud past.

In the evening, Mr. [Ahmed] Shafi'i and [Amir] Tehrani from the Ministry of Information came. They complained to Mr. [Ataullah] Mohajerani, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance], for allowing the recognition of the writers' club, which had never been official before, and also for giving awards to several counter-revolutionary writers. In general, they expressed concern about the state of affairs in the country and said that if it continues like this, in the upcoming elections, the supporters of the religious government will be in the minority and they asked me to think. They said, in the revolutionary and Islamic circles, their hope is only in you and they think that you have a plan for this situation, like in the past, and they insisted that I take action.

Mr. [Ahmedreza] Kazemi, CEO of Homa [= Islamic Republic of Iran Airlines] came. He gave the work report and especially the Hajj transfer program and said that this year there are fewer delays than usual and he expressed his displeasure with the high cost of protecting the planes and said that after the year 2000, our planes may not be allowed to fly to European countries and it is necessary to buy a new plane as soon as possible. During the construction government, the negotiations to purchase 20 Airbus aircraft from France were concluded, which have been stopped in the new government. He said, recently they revived the same package and asked me to tell Mr. [Mohsen] Noorbakhsh, [CEO of the Central Bank], to give the advance currency.

I was the guest of the leader. Regarding the results of the council elections, the leadership of their opinion is that the people's participation was low due to the fierce competition, and the number of votes for the second Khordad front is also low, which is a sign of their retreat. The upcoming parliamentary elections were also discussed. They are dissatisfied with Mr. [Attaullah] Mohajerani, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance], for allowing the authors' association and giving prizes to anti-revolutionary writers, and they are also dissatisfied with the weakness of the management of the right wing. There was a negotiation about the [election] of the head of the judiciary for the future.