Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - April 16, 2002

Dr. Sahraian, [Chairman of the Producers' Research Committee] and former Commander of the Ground Forces, said that based on opinion polls among industrialists and academics, 80 percent of them have given the opinion that the solution to the problems is to give priority to development and construction, and they wanted to be ready to accept the next president. I refused and said, "I prefer the same policy of giving the field to the younger forces

I went to see the Supreme Leader, and they are in complete rest. They are upset by the actions of Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, the [Foreign Minister] in Lebanon, which has been interpreted in line with the wishes of the United States, and they have rebuked him and ordered reparations.
 
Full text of the diary:

Dr. [Mehdi] Sahraeian, [Chairman of the Producers' Research Committee] and former Commander of the Ground Forces, said that based on opinion polls among industrialists and academics, 80 percent of them have commented that the solution to the problems is to give priority to development and construction. They said that today the most progressive and effective method of management in strategic lessons is management based on trust, which was in the period of construction. They asked me to be ready to accept the next presidency, they said, "At the moment, 48 percent of the votes are yours and it will go up", I refused and said, "I prefer the same policy of giving the field to the younger forces."  

The head of the compressor factory came and said that due to the lack of cooperation of the banks, the factory in Shiraz has been closed for many years and 800 of its workers are unemployed. He asked for help to repay his debts. Mr. [Masoud Roghani] Zanjani, [former head of the Planning and Budget Organization], and Dr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Tabibian came and presented the results of their research on the causes of stagnation and unemployment and complained to the [Armed Forces] General Staff for not complying with the law of military service. Mr. [Mohammad Sharif] Mahdavi [Shahroudi] came. He has been introduced to the head of the Iranian consulate in Jeddah. He consulted on the work plans.

In the evening, Mr. [Seyyed Ali Asghar Mir] Hejazi came from the office of the Supreme Leader. He criticized the violation of the Supreme Leader's order during his visit to Lebanon by Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, saying that the Supreme Leader has been on absolute rest for six days because of his disk. Regarding the agreement of some officials to travel to the United States to participate in conferences related to Iran, he said:  

Dr. [Morteza] Mirbagheri and [Ahmad] Meshkini from the [national] youth organization came. They said that in the entire five years, Mr. Khatami, [the president], convened the Supreme Youth Council only once, and India did not even give the approved budgets of the organization. Other organs that cooperated as a result of the formation of the Supreme Council during the construction period did not cooperate during this period.  

Mr. [Ali] Fallahian, [former Minister of Intelligence and a member of the Assembly of Experts] came. He suggested that the Expediency Council should consider lowering the interest rates of banks, and he asked about the way the commissions in the Assembly of Experts operated, and he wanted to cooperate with the [Forum's] Strategic Research Center. He was critical of the appointment of some new people to the Expediency Council.  

At night, I went to visit the Supreme Leader on the way home. On the orders of Dr. [Seyyed Mahmoud] Tabatabaei, [a neurologist], they are in complete rest. They are upset by the actions of Mr. Kamal Kharrazi, the [Foreign Minister] in Lebanon, which has been interpreted in line with the wishes of the United States, and they have rebuked him and ordered reparations. Regarding my meeting with the parliamentarians, they asked me if there were any false statements about Ali – Akhavizadeh – in the newspapers today, and I said that I had ordered them to compensate.  

US military commanders have expressed concern over their casualties in Afghanistan, including the killing of four people yesterday. In the United States and some European cities, demonstrations have been held in favor of Israel.