Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - July 25, 2000 - Ongoing Political, Judicial, and Media Reactions and Daily Affairs

Visit to the Construction Site of Tehran's Grand Prayer Hall (Mosalla) and Hearing the Report from Commander Hossein Alaei and Ali Ghiamatioon
Officiating the Marriage of the Daughter of Hassan Khoeid, one of Hashemi's Bodyguards
Consultation and Electoral Discussion with Seyyed Reza Zavarehei
Consultation with Fatemeh Hashemi Regarding the Publication of Hashemi's 1982 Daily Notes

I visited Tehran's Grand Prayer Hall (Mosalla). Mohsen accompanied me. Mr. [Hossein] Alaei [CEO of Imam Khomeini Mosalla] and Mr. [Ali] Ghiamatioon [former head of the Shaheed Hemmat Ballistic Missile Design and Construction Center] gave a report using a model. We then walked through all parts of the project. The structure covers around 450,000 square meters of building and 670,000 square meters of courtyards. It is estimated that more than 100 billion tomans, at current prices, will be spent, and so far, only 14 billion tomans have been allocated. This year, the government reduced the budget from 5 billion tomans to 3.5 billion tomans. It will truly be a massive structure.

In the afternoon, I officiated the marriage of the daughter of Mr. [Hassan] Khoeid, one of my bodyguards. Mr. [Reza] Zavarehei [member of the Guardian Council] came. He consulted about his candidacy for the [2001] presidential election. I told him that it seems unlikely that he would win, given that he neither has a party, nor money, nor a newspaper, but he believes that if the national broadcaster (IRIB) holds long debates, he will succeed. He asked what kind of support I could provide; I did not make any promises, as I intend to remain neutral.

Fatemeh (Fati) came. We discussed [preparing the book on] the memoirs of 1982 [After the Crisis]. She mentioned that recently, in some places, including on the mountain, some women have been removing their headscarves. Tonight, it was officially announced that the two-week-long Camp David II negotiations have failed, and the delegations will return, with talks continuing in the future.

The clashes between Parliament and the judiciary over the press, tape-makers, and arrests are intensifying, as is the ongoing dispute between [Kayhan] newspaper and [IRNA] news agency. Today, a French Concorde airplane crashed, killing 113 people. Since this is the first such Concorde accident, it has attracted significant attention in the media and technical circles. So far, only 13 Concorde airplanes have been built.