Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 27, 1985

I woke up at half past two in the morning with the sound of anti-aircraft fire. By chance, I was dreaming about the start of the Iraqi air attack and I didn't fall asleep again until morning. Later it turned out that a house was bombed and three people were martyred.

Someone came to me stating that he had something important and urgent. He claimed that the previous year, as a counter-revolutionary coup plotter, he contacted the Iraqi embassy in Ankara and found out that Iraq did not turn a blind eye to Khuzestan and did not want peace! His action seemed unusual and suspicious to me; I asked the Minister of Information [Mr. Mohammadi Ray Shahri] to investigate him.

Mr. Ahmad came. They talked about war and... The imam asked me to investigate the fact that the air force is not able to attack and hit the Iraqi attack planes that drop bombs at an altitude of 75,000 feet. I asked the consultation office [Imam in the army] to investigate and give an opinion.

Mr. [Mohammad Baqir Mohiuddin] Anwari came to Shiraz with Mr. Mahalati's brother [Sheikh Majaduddin] Mahalati. Mr. Mahalati brought an offer to sell 35 Harpoon missiles from Paris. I told the air force commander and my office to take care of it. Usually, arms dealers make such offers with special purposes. We launched the sixth missile to Baghdad and the news of its impact reached the west of the Tigris, but we are waiting for additional news.

At night, we were the guests of Ahmad Agha along with the leaders of the forces, and the Imam also participated. At the same time, the Iraqi air attack on Tehran took place and there was a long period of silence. 16 martyrs and 190 injured from this Iraqi attack remained on our hands. In this meeting, the quality of dealing with Saddam's opponents in Iraq, who are from non-Islamic groups that are not aligned with us, was discussed and a decision was made. I came home late. I was alone