Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 17, 1986

I was at home. Mr. [Mohammadreza] Tausli came and brought a check for aid to the fronts from the Imam. Mr. Ahmad came. We talked about solving Ayatollah Montazeri's problem. We decided to ask the Imam to invite him to Tehran and show him love. Then try to satisfy them. In the evening, Ahmad Agha informed that the Imam had ordered him to come to Tehran, and it was decided that he would be at the meeting of the heads of forces at night.

In the evening Mr. Mohsen Rezaei and [Feridon] Mahdinejad came. Mahdinejad described the negotiations with the American delegation in Germany about the hostages in Lebanon and the progress made and showed us the Bible that Reagan signed and sent. He said the phasing of the release of the hostages and the acquisition of weapons and information needs. It was decided to consult with the imam and the leaders of the forces and then implement it.

At night, Ayatollah Montazeri came from Qom. We were guests of Ahmad Agha with Messrs. [Ayatollah] Khamenei and Ardabili. Imam also participated. They loved Mr. Montazeri a lot and said that your presence is necessary for the revolution and that it is everyone's duty to protect your reputation and the order to pursue Seyyed Mehdi Hashemi's group was also for the purpose of purifying your house.

They ordered them to normalize their situation and sign the amnesty of the prisoners again. They did not accept Mr. Montazeri, but Imam insisted. The imam was about to get angry when the situation improved with our intervention.

Imam came very short and unfortunately Mr. Montazeri will not soften. Imam once or twice openly said that their life is nearing the end and they may not live for a few more days. The doctors said that Imam should not get angry. We were very impressed. In addition, they said on an occasion that Ahmad Agha is the dearest person in his heart, if he commits a mistake, they will follow him like others. Finally, Mr. Montazeri agreed to start the meetings on a limited basis, but they did not accept to talk and lecture and interfere in the affairs like in the past.

I read the reports at the end of the night. Iraq has started a holy mosque by censoring rockets. From the sum of the contents, it can be seen that America is forced to gain the satisfaction of the Islamic Republic.