Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - December 23, 2002

Mr. Shahidi Moaddab, who has become the ambassador [of Iran] to Indonesia, came for a consultation; he admitted that the "Second of Khordad" faction (Reformists) went to extremes and asked me to forgive their disloyalty and misconduct and to prevent the creation of problems, saying they were raw youths. / Mostafavi, the former secretary of the Football Federation, came. He complained about the factional approach toward sports and the damage being dealt to it.

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Mr. [Shaban] Shahidi Moaddab, who has become the ambassador [of Iran] to Indonesia, came for a consultation; however, most of the conversation was about internal political affairs. He admitted that the Second of Khordad group went to extremes and caused political stagnation. Despite having been the Press Deputy to Mr. [Ata'ollah] Mohajerani [former Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance] himself and being responsible for the excesses in the press, he asked me to forgive their disloyalty and misconduct and to prevent the creation of problems, saying they were raw youths. I said that individuals like Mr. Mohajerani and [Abdollah] Nouri [managing director of Khordad newspaper], who are not raw youths, also did not prevent the extremism. I shared strategies for developing relations with Indonesia.

Mr. [Dariush] Mostafavi, the former secretary of the Football Federation, came. He complained about the factional approach toward sports and the damage being dealt to it; as an example, he cited the presence of [Mohsen] Safaei Farahani [head of the executive committee of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and president of the Football Federation] in his place, which he claimed caused football to fall behind, despite imposing heavy costs on the country. He asked for my help in revitalizing football.

[Mr. Alexander Rumyantsev], the Russian Minister of Atomic Energy, and his accompanying delegation arrived. He said that despite American pressure, Russia intends to expand cooperation with Iran in civilian nuclear affairs. While expressing appreciation for Russia's stance in this regard—including its response to recent American allegations regarding Natanz and Arak—I stated that Iran has 6,000 megawatts of nuclear power in its program and that there is a good atmosphere for further cooperation. I also emphasized the necessity of cooperation in Caspian Sea oil and gas.

In the afternoon, I had an interview with the Assembly of Experts' "Islamic Government" magazine regarding the uprising of Imam Hussain (AS); I answered many questions, and it remained unfinished.

Iraq has emphasized that it is ready to answer all the inspectors' questions, but the U.S. has asked Turkey to provide four airbases and two ports to the American military for the war against Iraq. [Saud al-Faisal], the Saudi Foreign Minister, has asked the U.S. to give Iraq a deadline to resolve the problem. Extensive demonstrations have broken out in Turkey and England against the war policies of the U.S. and Britain. Several explosions occurred in Kabul.

North Korea has activated the control turbines of its heavy water power plant due to the U.S. violation of the cooperation treaty. The U.S. had committed to building two light water reactors by 2003 and providing 500,000 tons of free oil annually until this year in exchange for the shutdown of North Korea's heavy water plant; however, the [George] Bush administration suspended the contract on the pretext of North Korean non-compliance, and [North] Korea has announced that it will continue its nuclear policy.

The failure of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit to address the Iraq issue has been criticized. Robert Kingston, the former commander of the U.S. military [CENTCOM] in the Persian Gulf, admitted that the U.S. government was expecting a political explosion in Iran in 2002, a prediction that turned out to be wrong.