Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 29, 2003

Mr. [Abolqasem] Sarhadi-Zadeh, [Tehran representative], came. He said that Mr. [Gholamhossein] Karbaschi is cooperating with the Encyclopedia Islamica, but unidentified individuals have threatened him, and also said that Dr. [Abdollah] Jassbi, [president of the Islamic Azad University], has problems because he wants to have all the university's affairs under his control, and suggested that it be organized in such a way that the problem would not arise. He wanted to know my opinion about the parliamentary elections and also the possibility of my running in the presidential election. I said that I do not intend to participate.

Mr. [Mohsen] Nabavi, our ambassador in Austria, came. He said that Austria has announced that it will soon take action to build a gas pipeline in Iran, and said that it would be good for Iran's representation at the International Atomic Energy Agency and ... to be under the embassy's supervision. He arranged to cooperate with Mr. [Abdolhossein] Moezi to develop the Islamic Center.

Mr. Cyrus Nasseri, [adviser to the foreign minister and former Iranian ambassador to Geneva], came. He gave a report on the negotiations with the [International Atomic] Energy Agency and made suggestions for resolving the problems arising from the Board of Governors' resolution, and said that the American ambassador had told Mr. [Mohammadreza] Alborzi, [Iran's permanent representative at the United Nations headquarters in Geneva], that America is willing to negotiate with Iran about this issue and other matters.

The European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Belgium, in a statement, called on Iran to accept the Additional Protocol and stop enrichment, and issued a warning of tougher measures.  

In the afternoon, Mr. [Ali] Mobini from the Special Commission [for drafting the twenty-year vision] came and brought the commission's resolution on the 1404 vision and gave explanations.  

A group of nationalists and Second Khordad [reformists], for the second time, undertook a political fast in support of political prisoners.  

There have been clashes in Baghdad, Kirkuk, Tikrit, Ramadi, Fallujah and ... and a bomb planted in Najaf was discovered. The first group of Iranian pilgrims officially went to Iraq through the Shalamcheh and Mehran borders, and Iraqi pilgrims entered Iran from Khosravi.  

In Afghanistan, the Taliban claimed to have captured several points, and al-Qaeda declared [Pervez] Musharraf, [president of Pakistan], an infidel and deserving of death. Nigeria has sent its first satellite into space, and fighting has resumed on the Pakistan-India border; with casualties on both sides.