Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 28, 2003

[Messrs. Hassan Ghafouri-Fard, Amir Eslami-Tabar, Abdollah Hejrati, Saber Mir-Ataei, Morteza Mahmoudi, Manouchehr Mottaki, Abolqasem Raoufian, Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri and Ahmad Hakimipour, members of] the Central Council of the House of Parties came. Dr. Ghafouri-Fard reported on its background and performance, committees and needs. In the previous term, the majority on the council was with the leftists, and this term with the rightists. They said that about 120 parties and groups are members [of the House of Parties]. I also spoke about the necessity of parties in democratic systems, as well as the necessity of having large and influential parties, the failure of a culture of party politics to take root in Iran, and the role of the Islamic Republican Party in the early years of the Revolution. They expect the government to help them more and give them local leadership.

Dr. [Abdollah] Jassbi, [president of Islamic Azad University] came. He spoke about the issues surrounding the university entrance exam. It has now become clear that the exam questions were not leaked and that only swindlers had extorted money from applicants by giving them questions, and therefore those who passed have been admitted. We spoke about the parliamentary elections and cooperation among the parties.

At noon, Mohsen, [chairman of the board and managing director of the Metro Company] came and said that he had decided to resign from managing the Tehran Metro because he disagrees with the monorail plans of [Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,] the new mayor.

In the afternoon, 180 Iraqis who are guests in Iran at the invitation of the IRGC came. Four people spoke: [Mr. Seyyed Mostafa Shoghi], a cleric, [Mr. Nizar Mohammad Hassan], a lawyer, [Mr. Hossam Habib], a poet, and [Mr. Munther Kaabi], a martyr's father. They have been impressed by Iran's progress. I also spoke to them about the importance of preventing the occupiers from consolidating their occupation in Iraq and of unity and avoiding sectarian and ethnic division.

Mr. [Mojtaba] Abtahi, [deputy commander of the IRGC Quds Force] also gave a report on their travel plans and said that the car carrying Mr. Seyyed Abdulaziz Hakim, [president of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq] had overturned on the way to Najaf and one of the Badr commanders had died, but Mr. Hakim was unharmed. They asked for assistance with security.

Political circles say that the two-day talks between [George] Bush, [president of the United States,] and [Vladimir] Putin, [president of Russia] at Camp David and their resolution of differences regarding Iraq and Iran ended without result.

In Iraq, today was a day full of incidents for the occupiers. In Afghanistan, there were also several armed clashes, and in Palestine the killings continue.

The widespread power outage in Italy showed that the electricity supply systems of advanced governments have become worn out and have problems.