Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 30, 1996

In the morning, we went from home to [Shahid Rajaei] Heart Hospital to visit Mr. [Mohammed] Fazel Lankarani, who was hospitalized due to a mild stroke. The left arm and leg are a little weak and limp. He has already had heart surgery and his [blood] sugar is very high.

We went to Azadi Square to open the West Terminal. Mr. [Gholamohsin] Karbaschi, the mayor of Tehran, also came from home with me. On the way, he gave the report of his trip to Kuwait and said, Kuwaitis are very worried and anxious because of the fear of Saddam, and the Emir of Kuwait has lost his balance and they are ashamed of us because of the help they gave to Saddam [during the eight-year war].

I visited different parts of the [West] terminal and heard reports; It is very huge. Currently, the first phase has been completed with the daily capacity of more than a thousand buses, commercial stands, library, prayer hall, restaurant, cinema and shop. I talked to them about the importance of building terminals. Two fire stations were opened at the same time.

I went to my office. The market regulation headquarters had a meeting, with several resolutions, including the facilitation of trade with Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan. In the evening, in the meeting of the government board, we had some resolutions. I explained to the ministers about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I was the guest of Ayatollah Khamenei last night. We discussed last night's approvals of the Supreme National Security Council for cooperation with the Afghan government, Jalal Talabani, the new problem of the Expediency Council, the group of non-profit schools and election issues. In the reports, the acute issues of Palestine, Afghanistan, Russia and Iraq are of interest.