Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 15, 1983

After prayers and writing two days' worth of memoirs, I went to the Parliament. Mr. Yazdi was presiding over the public session. In my office, I met with Mr. [Mohammad Reza] Mahdavi Kani. The Imam had summoned him and expressed concern about the disagreements among the clerics over economic issues, and had tasked him with bringing both sides together in a meeting to resolve their differences. We decided to hold the meeting on Thursday night at Mr. Khamenei's office.

After the recess, I presided over the public session. Progress on the budget clauses is slow. We amended the clause prohibiting new hiring that the commission had included. If it had remained, we would not have been able to bring qualified people into government offices. At noon, I spoke to the members of the land distribution headquarters, a group of Kurds, and the staff serving at Tehran's Friday prayers.

Mr. [Kazem] Akrami Hamedani came and consulted me about accepting the deputy ministership of education under Mr. [Ali Akbar] Parvaresh. At three in the afternoon, we resumed the parliamentary session, which lasted until six.

After the Maghrib prayer, Dr. Velayati gave a detailed report on the developments at the Non-Aligned Conference. We discussed OPEC's decision to reduce the price of each barrel of oil by five dollars. It is a very bad move. It has dealt a major blow to the oil-producing countries. We decided to try, if possible, to prevent it. At night, I returned home. Mr. [Mohammad] Gharazi called from London. I shared this view with him. Dr. [Mohammad Ali] Hadi [Najafabadi], who had held talks with the Saudi foreign minister on the sidelines of the OPEC conference, is planning to travel to Saudi Arabia during the Eid holidays for Umrah and may be able to take action on this matter. Ahmad Agha also said a few things over the phone.