Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 16, 1981

I made up for the two-day delay in writing my memoirs and also spent an hour studying tafsir. Considering my own state of mind and the situation in society, I chose the verses concerning the Battle of Uhud. I then went to visit the Imam.

The Imam is in good health. During Ramadan, he has been resting because visits have been suspended. I consulted with him about the presidential candidates, the election campaign, the next prime minister, the war, and other matters. He strongly urged that I and the other officials take greater security precautions.

At Parliament, I had a meeting of the presiding board. We will not have a public session for a week. This was the last meeting of the presiding board in the current year. We arranged next week’s agenda and decided to appoint someone to oversee the construction of housing for the members of Parliament, for which funding has been secured, along with a few other minor matters.

In the afternoon, I gave an interview to Italian television and met with the chargé d’affaires of the Pakistani Embassy, who called for expanded cooperation and the resolution of misunderstandings.

Mr. Seyyed Mahmoud Doaei came with the son of the late Khalisi-Zadeh, who is one of the Iraqi revolutionaries. We discussed the nature of the struggle inside Iraq and the coordination of the revolutionaries. Mr. Seyyed Sadeq Mousavi (Shirazi) had also come from Lebanon and urged appropriate publicity for this year’s Quds Day.

Late in the day, I went to the Heart Hospital to visit Mr. Khamenei. He is feeling better. His right arm, which is numb, had been raised and secured so that blood would not collect in the veins and the swelling would decrease. We talked for a while about the current situation in the country.

I came home for iftar. Efat was a guest at the home of Agha Jalal, one of our guards. The children were there, and early in the evening, the children of my late brother also came. Mohammad, my nephew, emphasized the need to reopen the universities.