Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 1, 1983

I was at home all day. I spoke by telephone with [Ayatollah] Mr. Khamenei about the disagreements between Mr. [Ali Akbar] Parvaresh [Minister of Education] and [Mohsen] Doagoo [Deputy Minister of Education]. It was decided that we would have a meeting and decide on the need to expedite giving Saddam a response regarding the missile attacks on Andimeshk and Dezful.

I spent most of my time studying in order to revise the positions of the [Islamic Republic] Party. For two days I have been suffering from back pain. The pain appeared after some playing of ping-pong with the children; it is probably a localized cold, because I had been sweating while playing.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Hamid] Ziyarti [cleric] came and consulted about the book by [Hossein] Heikal [famous Egyptian journalist], in which he has made false allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran and which has been translated into Persian, and he has responded to his falsehoods in the footnotes. He also consulted about handing over the [Islamic] Revolution Documents Center to the Prime Minister's Intelligence [Ministry] - which the Prime Minister has requested and the Imam has said he should consult with me about - I said to wait until the Minister of Intelligence is appointed and leave things as they are.

They brought the reports from yesterday and today from the Majlis. I read them at night. There was nothing important. At night, I watched a film of the ceremony of removing the bodies of the martyrs killed by the missiles in Dezful and Andimeshk and their funerals; it is very extraordinary and immense and sorrowful. The people's spirit and resistance are admirable. Mehdi was protesting because the location for carrying out the KAD project had not been determined. He is right; there has been negligence.

Late at night, Mr. [Seyyed Kazem] Akhavan Marashi said by telephone from Qom that some people in Rudehen claim to have found a treasure; it was decided that they would come tomorrow so that I could introduce them to the Ministry of Culture. These days there are many such claims and they usually have other objectives.