Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 4, 1993

The meeting between the Presidents of Russia and the United States in Canada is in the headlines. By supporting [Boris] Yeltsin, [President of Russia], the West is trying to strengthen his position against the opposition.

Mr. [Mohammed Hasan] Zoroq, the head of the Voice of the Islamic Republic, came with the managers of the radio. They reported work. I gave them a detailed talk and encouraged them and explained the general policies. Before the meeting, he said about the possible negative effects of cross-border for the cultural division of a part of the non-Persian speaking people of the country.

Mr. [Ali] Agha Mohammadi, [Chairman of the Iraq Committee] came. He talked about the situation of Iraqi groups and proposed the policy of dealing with them and the proposal of using the profits of border transactions to strengthen the movement, and he also made some points about fake banknotes against Iran and Iraq.

The leaders of the [Islamic] coalition came and consulted with other Islamic groups about the alliance. They talked about [presidential] election ads, and I said that I don't need ads; Advertisements should be based on the principle of people's presence at the polls.

In the evening, I attended the meeting of the government board. We discussed about the new tariffs, which was left unfinished. I was the guest of Ayatollah Khamenei last night. We negotiated about foreign policy and cooperation with Malaysia, the issues of Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the issues of the [Qom Academia] and the issue of tariffs and foreign exchange expenses.