Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – November 2, 1997

[Mr. Salah Zawawi], the Palestinian ambassador and his deputy came. They had suggestions, such as naming the Islamic Conference "Quds" and having an exhibition for Palestine in the embassy or next to the summit, and during these trips of the leaders, efforts should be made to repair the strained relations with Algeria, Egypt, and the UAE, and that instead of being totally opposed to peace, Iran should come up with a plan that is acceptable to the world today, considering the current conditions. They said, for the time being, it is not possible to remove Israel.

Mr. [Waliullah] Chepur came. He works as an inspector in Mustafafan Foundation. He complained and criticized Mr. [Mortaza] Mohammad Khan who did not pay attention to him when he was the head of the customs and did not solve the problems of the customs and expressed his concern about the current economic insecurity stagnation.

Mr. [Gholam Ali] Shahraki came. By the order of Mr. Khatami, [the president], he was removed from the deputy of agriculture and works as a consultant; He complains and strongly criticizes the removal of managers in the new government, especially the removal of sensitive and close Shiite forces in Sistan and Baluchistan, and asked me to take action to guide the forces of the failed current.

Mr. Mousavi, the mayor of Region 3, came. He is very angry and sad about the recent encounters with the municipalities and the problems that have arisen and will come from this area, and he had suggestions for a solution.

In the evening, Mr. [Ghadrat Ali] Heshmatian, the representative of Sonkor, came. He thanked me for the construction works in Sanghar, such as gas, road, hospital, and the university license, and asked me to help the independent stream of MPs, of which he is one of the leaders, and said there are 50 of them.

Dr. [Ali Akbar] Velayati, [Leadership Advisor on International Affairs] came. We talked about the foreign policy situation and the positions of different countries and the leadership's speech at the summit and the economic and political problems in the new government as well as the movement of their like-minded forces. They expect me to intervene. Mr. Engineer [Asghar] Sadeghi, [Syed Mohammad Hossein] Assar and Engineer Jahramizadeh came from Hojjatiye Association. They complained and appealed to the pressure of the Ministry of Information. I told Mr. [Ali] Aghamohammadi, [Chairman of the Iraq Committee] on the phone, that Mr. [Mohammed Baqer] Hakim's request regarding more presence in northern Iraq should be taken into account.

I was the guest of the leader. They were fasting. I had dinner with him iftar. They were a little tired and bored. We cut short the negotiations. We discussed the bylaws of the Assembly [Determining Expediency] and the summoning of the mayor of Tehran to the court, the speech at the summit of the Islamic Conference and the [return] of the European delegation and the situation in Iraq with the dispute with the United States, the visit of the President of China to the United States and the issue of Iran and the visit of Iranian pilgrims to Iraq.