Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 17, 2003

We went to the under-construction Imam Reza (A) super-specialty hospital of Astan Quds [320 beds]. The officials explained. The building is close to completion, and the equipment must be procured and installed. About 15 billion tomans have been spent so far, and another 20 billion tomans are needed. It has 40 hectares of land. Before noon, we spoke with Mr. [Vaez] Tabasi about important national issues, the American threat, the [Seventh Parliament] elections, and ...

Mr. [Sheikh Hossein Ali] Beheshti Afghan came. He is a self-taught dental technician. He wants to obtain Iranian citizenship, but they are not granting it. He has lived in Iran for 25 years. He was imprisoned in Turkey for a while and claims that through special recitations he received from Mr. [Seyyed Ali] Qazi [Tabatabaei Tabrizi] in Najaf, he can attain unusual knowledge, and that through ascetic practices he had been able to subjugate jinn, but his father forbade him, and he no longer does it. He said that around the year 1330 in Najaf he had also received permission from Ayatollah Borujerdi, which made me seriously doubtful, because Mr. [Seyyed Hossein] Borujerdi, the [Shiite Marja'], was in Qom at that time. He said that perhaps there had been two Borujerdis. Mr. [Gholamreza] Ansari, the governor of Mazandaran, said that he has miraculous powers and had predicted his son's car accident. Mr. Tabasi also said that he has certain abilities; but in this meeting, I saw nothing.

In the afternoon, together with the governor and Mr. [Sadegh] Afshar, [Managing Director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Railways], we went to inspect the under-construction Bafq-Mashhad railway—which had been started during the Reconstruction era. We visited a station and the 2,400-meter tunnel in the Khomari Heights near Torbat-e Heydarieh. The project is scheduled to become operational by the end of next year. It was started in 1375 with about 350 billion tomans, with the help of the minister and an amount from the president's Account 210.

I gave an interview to the national broadcaster about the importance of the project and also the super-specialty hospital. On the way, Engineer Afshar gave interesting explanations about the country's railway lines and said that they are mostly continuations of projects that had begun during the Reconstruction government's era.

A court in America, in a strange ruling, has sentenced Iran to pay 400 million dollars in damages for an explosion in Jerusalem years ago. So far, several rulings of this kind have been issued against Iran in American courts, and Iran has not reciprocated, even though there are many accusations against America. Bush, [the U.S. President], has ordered the preparation of a plan for economic punishment against Iran.