Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 26, 1985

While we were having breakfast, a red alert was announced and two Iraqi planes attacked Tehran. Anti-aircraft guns worked hard. Iraqi planes dropped two bombs, as a result of which two or three houses were destroyed and 5 people were martyred and 12 people were injured. I told the War Propaganda Headquarters to announce retaliatory measures.

Before the order in the open session [of Parliament], I spoke about the American threat, the events in Lebanon and retaliation. We finished the work on the bill of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. The opponents were very weak.

After the meeting, Dr. Begdali - who was a prisoner in Iraq since the beginning of the war and was recently released - came and gave a complete report of his captivity and the condition of the prisoners. He believes that we have about two thousand prisoners that the Iraqi regime has kept hidden in Nasiriyah and other places; It had remarkable content.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Mohsen] Rafiq Dost came and consulted about the proposal to travel to Libya and Syria to find out their positions in the recent situation; I agreed to his proposal. In the evening, Messrs. [Ali] Shamkhani [acting commander of the IRGC] and Mosleh in charge of the IRGC came to me in Lebanon. They gave a complete report on the situation in Lebanon, explained their future plans, consulted about the dispute they have with the Lebanese Council, and sought help to meet their needs.

Iraqis have attacked Bakhtran, Gilangharb, Baneh, Marivan and Ilam. Mr. [Ayatollah] Khamenei insisted that we delay the attack on Baghdad. That night, in a phone conversation with him, I was urging him to attack, and he was against it, and Tehran's defenders started firing, and it became clear that we had to attack. We are going to launch a rocket tonight. Colonel Sayad also ordered to attack Basra.