Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - October 27, 2001

Mohammad Sattarifar's report on the next year's budget and the activities of his organization, the country's management and planning

Formation of the Expediency Council's Infrastructure Committee and Approval of Clauses of the General Industry Policies

Full text of the diary:

Mr. [Mohammad] Sattarifar, the head of the Management and Planning Organization, came. He explained about next year's budget and said that this year so far, 1,600 billion tomans have not been realized, and the Ministry of Education, Defense and Science has a budget deficit of about 500 billion tomans. Both this year and last year, the credits for job creation have been absorbed very little, he said, adding that it has been decided that the price of the dollar in next year's budget will be 770 tomans, this year it will be 790 tomans, and the price of oil has been set at 16 dollars per barrel.

The Infrastructure Commission [of the Expediency Council] had a meeting. Two clauses of the general policies of the industry were approved. In the evening, the Mahdist research group came from Qom, explained their plans and asked me to go to Qom to open the conference. At night, relatives of Mohammad [Lahouti], Sara's husband, came and Dr. [Mohsen] Saghari spoke about the problems of buying and delivering radiopharmaceuticals.  

A Saudi newspaper wrote that the United States had arrested [Osama] bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban, but postponed the announcement until later.  

The pressure on the United States to continue bombing Afghanistan continues, and yesterday's demonstration of 40,000 people in Karachi is one of the most important examples. Anthrax bacteria have also been found in the State Department and the CIA. The propaganda pressure of the United States against Saudi Arabia has intensified because of attacks from religious centers around the world where revolutionary and Islamic forces are usually trained.