Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 3, 1989

Until half past eight in the morning, it passed like other days. Four of our ambassadors were supposed to come, but they did not. It turned out that they had not been informed in time. Mr. [Gholamreza] Fedai, the representative of Arak, came. He is going to China to treat his son with acupuncture. Mr. [Mohammed] Gharehi [Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telephones] came and made comments about the five-year plan. Mr. [Majid] Ghasemi, the head of the Central Bank, came. He was worried about the possibility of his dismissal and expressed his displeasure at the dismissal of Mr. Majdi.

I attended the government meeting in the evening. The discussion was about the five-year plan. Most of the ministers objected to their part in the program and the whole time of the meeting was spent listening to their opinions and the program and budget organization was supposed to give an answer in the next meeting.

At night, Ayatollah Khamenei came to my office. The position of engineer Mousavi and the Veterans Foundation were negotiated. They want to install Mr. Khamenei [as the head of the Veterans Foundation] with a time limit of three years, and Mr. Mousavi is not willing to accept with a time limit. The future of the army was discussed. Mr. Khamenei wants to write Mr. Dr. Rouhani as the Chief of the General Staff [of the Armed Forces] in a decree to revive the Joint Staff, and Mr. Rouhani does not agree. I do not agree either. I discussed with them; They were not convinced. There was also a discussion about the members of the Assembly for determining the quality and completion of the members of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. They ate dinner and spent some time trying to unlock the code of the safe left over from their own presidency, but to no avail. The children did not come and I slept alone.