Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 1, 1995

I left home to open the 21st Tehran International Exhibition. First, I visited the halls of Germany, Bangladesh, Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina and part of Iran's industry, commerce and shipping pavilions; It is very good. This year, the presence of domestic and foreign companies has grown well compared to the past; Contrary to America's move to sanction Iran.

With an open-top bus, we visited the open-air booths, which are mostly heavy industries, as well as the beautiful and spacious newly-established mosque of the exhibition. I participated in the audience meeting. The Quran, hymn and report of Mr. [Ali] Saeedlou, [Deputy Exporter] and Mr. [Yahi] Al-Ishaq, [Minister of Commerce] and my speech and the lighting of the ceremonial torch were done. The morale of the stall owners is good and they rarely raised the deficiencies. The packaging is better and the quality of the goods is interesting for export.

I went to the office. I did the work. In the evening Mr. [Reza] Amrollahi, [head of the Atomic Energy Organization] came. He expressed his concern about China's decision to announce cooperation with Iran in Isfahan for the construction of fuel for nuclear power plants. Mr. [Gholamreza] Shafi came. He advised me to run for parliament, but I did not agree. In the meeting of the government board, the inappropriate behavior of the Isfahan court regarding the arrest of Mr. Abedzadeh and the mismanagement of the court hearings were discussed.

Ayatollah Khamenei was my guest that night. The powers of the expediency council, my trip abroad, the amnesty of Danesh Mehr guard and the severe problems of the Iraqi people were discussed. It was decided to issue an order for Mr. Abedzadeh's release and to inspect the court's actions.