Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – November 3, 2003

Mr. [Mohammed Reza] Hatampuri, the imam of the Imam Ali bin Hussein (AS) mosque and the deputy of the center for the investigation of mosques, came. With a report on the state of the mosques, he emphasized that on the night of the 15th of Ramadan, people are waiting for me to attend their celebrations. He is generous and talented.

Mr. [Latafali] Ayouzi, the head of moderate and independent student union, came. He complained about Dr. [Abdullah] Jasbi, [President of Islamic Azad University]. He offered help for the convergence of independent groups and parties in the elections.

Mr. [Syed Hossein] Mousavian, [Deputy Secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council] came and explained about the fourfold statement [of Saadabad].  He expressed concern about the possibility of not reaching a final conclusion and the emergence of challenges regarding [uranium] enrichment and answering questions, and said that the leadership's statements yesterday will resolve internal misunderstandings.

In the evening Mr. Mohsen Rezaei, [Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council] came. He expressed his surprise at the leadership's acceptance of stopping gas injection for enrichment and said that the main demand of the Westerners is to destroy Iran's nuclear technology achievements and they will not settle for anything else. They are moving forward step by step and after discovering Iran's weak point regarding referral to the [UN] Security Council, they will use this tactic after this. The assembly sought a solution to repair the budget deficit. The iftar of the Assembly staff with their family members were my guests.

The crash of the American Shenok helicopter in Iraq and the death of 16 people and the injury of 21 people have caused the invaders to panic and the talk of leaving or staying in Iraq has become more serious. Two Iranian documentary filmmakers, [Saeed] Abutaleb and [Sohail] Karimi, were released [after 125 days of detention by US forces in Iraq].

Tony Blair [British Prime Minister] said that one of the fruits of the Iraq war is its effect on Iran, which surrendered to the world's demand and threatened in a way. Iranian authorities have given him an answer. The results of the opinion poll of the European Commission on threats to world peace have been officially published, and in it, Israel, America, North Korea and Iran are the first to fourth threats, respectively. Israel and America are upset and worried about this survey.

In the city of Makkah, the conflict between the police and a group of revolutionary armed people left a number of dead and wounded and fugitives.

The Australian ship carrying several thousand sheep, which was sent to Saudi Arabia, was not accepted due to the presence of disease in the sheep. After four months of wandering and displacement, he was given to Eritrea with the payment of millions of dollars and provision of free fodder. Eritrea says it took the money to exterminate the sheep.