Before noon, I attended to my work and took part in the mourning ceremony held by the staff. A group of mourners from the Presidential Office came and held a mourning ceremony.
Before noon, I attended to my work and took part in the mourning ceremony held by the staff. A group of mourners from the Presidential Office came and held a mourning ceremony. I also gave them a brief speech. Fati also attended. In the afternoon, Effat came and, after leaving the Expediency Council, set out for Rafsanjan to attend the mourning ceremony in [the village of] Aliabad-e Sadat.
Dr. [Hassan] Rouhani, [Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council], came. He consulted me about traveling to Saudi Arabia to negotiate over the allegations made by Saudi Arabia and the United States concerning the Khobar Towers bombing. They claim that two of those involved in the bombing are in Iran and want them handed over. The purpose of the trip is to resolve the issue before Mr. Khatami’s visit. I consider the trip useful and gave him guidance on how the negotiations should be conducted.
We discussed the insistence of the leaders of the right-wing faction that I intervene in the country’s current affairs in order to prevent the political, economic, and cultural situation from deteriorating further, as well as the proposal to establish the Independence Party to attract moderate forces and participate in the parliamentary elections. The party’s founders have proposed that Dr. Rouhani take the leadership of the party. He does not consider them, first, to be very serious or active, and second, does not believe that political parties can be effective given the Leader’s powers and the views of those in power. We also discussed the right-wing faction’s inappropriate actions regarding the Zan newspaper and Faezeh, the impeachment of Mr. [Ataollah] Mohajerani, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance], and the head of the Judiciary after Mr. [Mohammad] Yazdi’s term of office ends.
I worked at the office in the afternoon and evening. On the way home, I briefly attended the mourning ceremony held at the Leader’s residence. Mr. [Seyyed Ahmad] Alamolhoda was giving the speech. Messrs. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami, [President], and [Ali-Akbar] Nateq-Nouri, [Speaker of Parliament], and others were also there. They brought dinner consisting of food donated in the name of Imam Hussein (PBUH). I was alone. In the newspapers, the issue of Mr. Mohajerani’s impeachment, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance], was very heated, and left-wing students were actively opposing it.
Mr. [Mehdi] Safari, our ambassador to Russia, came and reported that the Russians were ready to supply sensitive requirements. Mr. Safari would like to remain in Russia, and I believe that would be in our interest, given the extensive information and contacts he has developed, his access to classified and important matters, and the golden and historic opportunity to benefit from Russian technologies, which are generally subject to restrictions. He said that the Russians had a realistic assessment of our development programs and maintained that Iran had surpassed Turkey during these eight years, even though we had previously lagged behind. He himself expressed regret that during these two years of Mr. Khatami’s government, not a single major new development project had been launched and many important projects already under way had stalled. He said there was no sign of such enthusiasm in the government or Parliament, and that everyone had become preoccupied with political games and factional disputes. There was no longer any sign of the swift and courageous decision-making on the country’s affairs that had existed before. He said that he himself had still not been given the opportunity to secure the sensitive technologies that were ready to be transferred. Even in the special commission, where they had broad authority and the support of the Leader and a resolution from the Expediency Council, decisions were reached slowly, and implementation of those decisions was also sluggish.
He said that at a meeting in Russia, the development initiatives of the Construction Government had been compared with those of Amir Kabir. Immediately, one of the Russian researchers said that although Amir Kabir’s actions had been important and significant for the circumstances of his time, they were small and limited compared with the achievements of Iran’s development programs over the past decade.
He also criticized the Foreign Ministry for its factional and superficial approach, saying that if he returned to Iran, he would not want to work in that ministry. Although previous officials had criticized Dr. [Ali-Akbar] Velayati’s methods, he said, they had now become satisfied with the very same situation.
I told him to follow up on Russia’s offer of readiness for major new cooperation and ensure that it was implemented, and that I would also help. I also told him to take the associated risks into account and ensure that the process was carried out with complete secrecy.
Take less than a minute, register and share your opinion under this post.
Insulting or inciting messages will be deleted.
Sign Up