Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 18, 1989

Mohsen had returned from a trip to China. He arrived while having breakfast and told a brief news about the trip. At eight in the morning, I went to Azadi Square to participate in the Army Day ceremony. Units from all the military and law enforcement forces marched and I gave a short speech and finally had an interview with Saf magazine [internal organ of the Islamic Republic Army]. I came to the parliament.

At noon, Mr. Dr. [Hasan] Rouhani and [Mohammed Ali] Nazaran came and gave the report of the secret trip to China. They are relatively satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations. In the evening [Mr. Berhanu Bayeh], the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia came to visit. The negotiations focused on the development of relations. Mr. Mohsen Rezaei and [Ali] Shamkhani came. They applied to strengthen the IRGC budget and meet the needs.

I went to the president's office. Dr. Velayati discussed the Geneva negotiations at the meeting of the heads of the powers. We agreed to have a private meeting with Tariq Aziz in the presence of the [UN] Secretary General. It was also allowed to send aid and food to Lebanese Muslims. The war between Muslims and Christians has intensified there. They have asked us for help. Iraq and the West help Christians.

After prayer and iftar, I had a meeting of the expediency council. Mr. [Abdul Hossein] Wahaji [Head of the Ministry of Commerce] gave a report on the implementation of the trade union law and we had a resolution prohibiting the increase in the price of government goods and services. I arrived home at half past ten. Mr. [Mohammed] Yazdi brought me a letter from Mr. Montazeri. He requested that his announcement regarding the answer to the letter of Mr. [Mahdi] Karroubi, [Syed Mahdi] Imam Jamarani and Hamid Rouhani be included in the Majlis bulletin.