Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 22, 1990

I went to my office in the morning. I did the work. We went to Azadi Square to participate in the parade of the armed forces on the occasion of the Holy Defense Week and the victory celebration ceremony. I gave a speech and took over the parade. I returned to my office at ten in the morning.

Around noon, we went to the airport to welcome [Mr. Hafez Assad], the President of Syria and the accompanying delegation; They arrived an hour late. They came from Russian space for security reasons. After the parade and the interview, the two of us moved to the guest quarters in Saadabad Palace. They reached the headquarters at two o'clock in the afternoon and I returned to my office.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the Syrians came to my office after visiting the Imam's shrine. First, we had a private meeting in the presence of Messrs. [Hasan] Habibi, [Ali Akbar] Velaiti, [Abdul Halim] Khodam [First Vice President], Farooq Al-Shora, [Foreign Affairs Minister] and Hafez Asad, and we talked more about the issue of Iraq, Kuwait and the future possibilities of events, which was not completed and was postponed to another private meeting.

Then we had an official and public meeting. The negotiations were held for an hour and they went to their headquarters and returned to the Foreign Ministry Palace for dinner, which lasted until ten o'clock at night. After the speech, Hafez Asad and I had important discussions about Iraq issues while having dinner. It was still unfinished. Hafez Asad did not eat dinner, even though his companions had prepared a special dinner for him; He said he does not eat meat at all. I stayed in my office at night.