Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 13, 1997

Dr. [Ali Akbar] Velayati, [the international advisor of the supreme leader of the revolution] came. He gave a report on his work plan as a leadership consultant. He complains about Mr. [Kamal] Kharazi in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for dismissing most of the deputies and advisors. In general, he strongly criticizes the elimination approach of the new government ministers and foresees a conflict. He thinks that the leadership is silent because of special interests.

Mr. [Isa] Kalantari, [Minister of Agriculture] came. He gave a report on the work of agriculture and expressed his concern about the lack of strong thinking and the right plan in the government and governance. He believes that it is not possible to implement the leadership's advice, which they said, to make several goods cheaper and not to make anything more expensive until the end of the year; For example, they have to make sugar as expensive as chicken.

Mr. [Abulfazl] Tawakli Bina came and asked for time for the person we saw in Africa. I told him to take his word and bring it. Mr. [Mohammed] Waezzadeh Khorasani, [President of the World Forum for the Rapprochement of Islamic Religions], came with his son, Dr. Sadeq, who recently returned from Canada. They applied to get land from the Ministry of Mines - above Evin prison - for the jurisprudence university. They suggest that the hypothetical route of the Caspian waterway to the Persian Gulf is from the north of the Persian Gulf instead of Bandar Abbas, as there is no water in this route. It was reported that Dr. Sadegh has made an initiative in Canada for electric motors that saves a lot of fuel.

Chastity came to the office at noon. We saw the funeral of Mother Teresa, a benevolent nun of Albanian descent who died in India, on CNN; It was interesting.

In the evening Mr. [Aladdin] Borujerdi, [Deputy Asia and Pacific Ministry of Foreign Affairs] came and gave a report on the situation in Afghanistan. With the return of [Abd al-Rashid] Dostum from Türkiye, there is a possibility of internal conflict in the northern front. He complained about Mr. Kharazi; I told them to review our policy in Afghanistan once again in the Supreme National Security Council.

Mr. [Abdullah] Nazari came to the scholars of Mazandaran and asked for help in electing a governor who is not from the right or the left. Mr. [Abdel Ali Ali] Askari, the manager of Refah chain stores, came and gave a report on the work of the stores. He predicts that they will have sales of 60 billion tomans this year.

Mr. [Hossein] Kamali, Minister of Works came. He said about the immaturity of the new ministers and Mr. Khatami's lack of control. A plaque was presented by the Handicrafts Organization. Mr. [Bijan Namdar] Zanganeh, [Minister of Oil] came and told about the problems of the Ministry of Oil, including too much concentration, weak exploration program, foreign exchange quotas and lack of sufficient mobility in the Caspian Sea.