Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 11, 1983

Early in the morning, the Revolutionary Guards informed me that at midnight last night, [Colonel Ali Sayad Shirazi], the commander of the [Army] Ground Forces, had called from the front. I contacted headquarters. It turned out that last night they had begun the first phase of Operation Valfajr [One] with the code phrase “Ya Allah.” On the Najaf Headquarters axis, they had advanced, and on the Karbala Headquarters axis, they had encountered an obstacle and retreated. Since the outcome was not yet clear, they had not announced it. Based on past experience, it was decided that we would not make an announcement before the situation became clear. At ten o’clock, I spoke with Mr. Mohsen Rezaei. He said that the Najaf Headquarters had achieved forty percent of its objectives, while Karbala had achieved none; we had taken about 150 prisoners, and our casualties had also been low.

Before noon, Ahmad Agha came and suggested that because of the Iraqis’ commotion, it was necessary to announce the news at noon. [Ayatollah] Mr. Khamenei was also consulted. It was decided that it should be announced. Dr. Velayati also wanted more information by phone so that he would be informed during his trip to Syria. At noon—with a delay—the Revolutionary Guards and Army statement was read in the middle of the news.

Today I stayed home and studied the reports I had brought from Parliament; I read a book containing several proposals by Engineer Hooman about transferring water from the Sea of Oman to the central deserts of Iran; after I raised the proposal of creating a canal between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf during Friday prayers, he had sent it to me.