Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 1, 1997

We flew to Mazandaran at half past seven in the morning. Mohsen and Mehdi and [Mr. Bijan Namdar] Zanganeh, [Minister of Energy] and [Hamid] Mirzadeh, [Head of the Planning and Budget Organization] and [Mortaza] Mohammad Khan, [Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance] and [Mohsen] Rezaei, [Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC] and [Ali] Shamkhani, [Commander of the Navy] and... There was an official welcome at Sari Airport. Four people, Mr. [Mohsen] Rezaei, [Mr. Asghar Granmayehpour] the governor, [Mr. Nurullah Tabarsi and Hadi Rouhani], two Friday imams, were standing with me on the platform, which is ugly.

We were supposed to go to the place of Shahid Rajaei Dam with helicopters. It was cloudy, we had to go by car. On the way, I had questions from the governor about the issues of the province. I visited different parts of the dam and the exhibition of water and soil projects of the province. The most important project is the nationwide water channel of the province, which transfers two billion cubic meters of water from the western and central parts of the province to the eastern part and cultivates about 280 thousand hectares of new land at a cost of about 150 billion tomans and the plan to build a tourist town on the shore of the dam lake with mountains, forests and a very clean lake.

At the ceremony, we heard the explanations of Mr. Zanganeh and Mr. Vakil. The dam and irrigation canals cost about 33 billion tomans. I also gave a detailed lecture about water and soil projects

I promised that we will control about 9 billion cubic meters of water. Then, by pressing the buttons, I opened the water drain valves of the dam; The view of the water jump in the calm pond is very magnificent. It was filmed. I also took a look at its interesting plaque and thanked the engineers and specialists.

The helicopters came. We flew to Nowshahr. We landed at the naval training complex. After the military reception, lunch, prayer and rest, Mr. Shamkhani, [Naval Commander] came and said that some elements of the IRGC are trying to get permission from the leadership to interfere in the elections, but they have not succeeded yet. Mr. Rezaei, [commander-in-chief of the IRGC] does not agree and he himself wanted to be a candidate [for the presidential election], which the leadership did not allow. The sun parade was for the graduation ceremony of the IRGC and army naval forces and the awarding of awards. They also performed a song about me. Mr. Shamkhani gave a speech about my services, about creating the power to dominate the sea, which is unprecedented in the history of Iran. They presented me with an interesting plaque to thank me. I also had an encouraging speech. We flew to Tehran. The weather was stormy and the plane was shaking.