Memories of Akbar Hashemi - June 23, 2001 - Consultative Meeting with Sheikh Mohammad Ali Sadooghi and Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi for Hashemi’s Intervention to Foster Better Understanding Between Seyyed Mohammad Khatami’s Government and Ayatollah Khamenei

Meeting with Salah Zawawi, the Palestinian Ambassador in Tehran, and Political Consultations.

Consultative meeting with Sheikh Mohammad Ali Sadooghi and Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi for Hashemi’s intervention to foster better understanding between Seyyed Mohammad Khatami’s government and Ayatollah Khamenei, although the narrator or publisher has skipped the details.

Hashemi's account of a truck overturning on the Zabol-Kerman road, resulting in the deaths of over 40 Afghan nationals.

Full Text of the Daily Record:

Mr. [Salah] Zawawi, the Palestinian ambassador [in Tehran], came to visit. He provided an explanation regarding the current situation in the region and stated that it has reached a dangerous state. [Ariel] Sharon, [the Prime Minister of Israel], has failed to deliver on his promises of security, and the Israeli people are pressuring him while simultaneously facing global public opinion urging him to refrain from exerting pressure on the Palestinian people. The presence of George Tenet, [the Director of the CIA], in the region and his conditional proposal regarding [George] Mitchell’s report, [the head of the fact-finding group], has been accepted by Israel and the Palestinian Authority, but the conditions from both sides are unacceptable to the other, making the likelihood of Tenet’s success quite low. If these efforts fail, Israel might exert significant pressure on the Palestinians and take steps to expel them from all of Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza; in such a case, the risk of military confrontation in the region would increase. He requested that Iran take more effective steps.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Mohammad Ali] Sadooghi, [the Parliamentary Deputy to the President], and Mr. [Mohammad Ali] Abtahi, [the head of the President’s Office], came to seek assistance for resolving political issues existing between factions and fostering better understanding between the leadership and the President. They consulted on methods of operation. I emphasized the necessity for the government to work on the livelihood of the people, maintain societal calm, and prevent corruption.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Saudi Arabian government has seized the oil pipelines from Iraq, which pass through Saudi territory to the Red Sea, as compensation for Iraq's aggressions at the end of the war with Iran. Iraq constructed this pipeline to reduce its dependence on the Turkish and Syrian pipelines and the Persian Gulf, but due to oil sanctions, it has been unable to utilize it.

In Afghanistan, Ismail Khan, [the former governor of Herat], has opened a new front in southern Herat and the southern provinces against the Taliban. Leila Pahlavi, the youngest daughter of [Mohammad Reza] Shah, has died in a hotel in London under unexplained circumstances. In the incident of a truck overturning on the Zabol-Kerman road, 47 people have died, most of whom are Afghans. We had good rainfall in Tehran and other parts of the country yesterday and today.