Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 6, 1995

Before the morning call to prayer, I woke to the sound of the singing birds of the garden and did not sleep again. Until seven-thirty I studied the reports and listened to the foreign radio news. They are exaggerating about the Islamshahr incidents. We went to the airport. We flew toward the site of the Karun 3 Dam. On the way, Messrs. Bijan Namdar Zangeneh, the Minister of Energy, and Mohammad Hossein Moghimi, the governor of Khuzestan, gave explanations. At the dam site, Mr. Habibollah Bitraf, the project executor, gave explanations. We visited the completed works for the access roads and so on, and with a huge explosion for the execution of the dam body, the executive work of the body officially began.

The dam's height is 205 meters, the reservoir capacity is nearly three billion cubic meters, the production capacity is three thousand megawatts of electricity, and it is being built with a rial cost of one hundred and forty billion tomans and a foreign currency cost of two hundred and eighty million dollars. In the gathering of managers, Mr. Zangeneh, the Minister of Energy, gave explanations and I gave an encouraging speech.

We flew toward the city of Izeh. The huge gathering of the people of Izeh was more than expected. Very warm and enthusiastic, with a pleasant anthem in the Bakhtiari style and the hosseh of men and women and the women twirling handkerchiefs above their heads. The Friday prayer leader and the representative gave welcome speeches and I gave hopeful and thankful remarks. We immediately flew toward Masjed Soleyman and from the air we saw the Islamic Azad University of Izeh. At that same ceremony, I gave the documents of thousands of hectares of pastures to the graziers. On the way, Mr. Gholamreza Forouzesh, the Minister of Construction Jihad, gave explanations about his work.

In Masjed Soleyman, Mr. Mohsen Rezaei and the military and Army Aviation personnel gave welcome speeches, and Mr. Rezaei's elderly father, simply dressed as a Bakhtiari, was at the front. We immediately went to the gathering place. I passed through kilometers of the rows of people; they welcomed very warmly and affectionately. It is surprising, all this affection!

At the people's gathering, the children sang anthems and Mr. Seyyed Qasem Yaqoubi, the Friday prayer leader, and Mr. Nasser Sohrabi, the representative, and Mr. Mohsen Rezaei gave welcome speeches, and the people behaved extremely warmly and affectionately and also expressed good feelings toward Mr. Rezaei. I too gave a warm and promise-filled speech, especially for creating employment through the development of olive orchards and handicrafts and animal husbandry and the completion of the Masjed Soleyman-Shahrekord road. The city has problems because of the end of oil activities and the leakage of gases from under the ground to the surface and the rotting of the water pipes and the ugliness of the city that has spread over a long period, and the occupation of good spots by the army.

We had lunch at the guesthouse of the Ministry of Oil. After prayer and rest, we moved toward the Karun Godar Landar Dam [of Masjed Soleyman], which is being built with Japanese credits. The water diversion tunnels have been built and they are preparing for the construction of the body and the power plant. The power plant's credit is delayed due to American pressure. Two thousand-megawatt power plants are to be built; one with a Japanese loan and the other at our own expense. The Japanese ambassador had also come. We passed through the tunnels by car; it is very huge. In the gathering of those present, Mr. Zangeneh gave a report and I gave a detailed speech about the importance of dam construction work. I unveiled the inauguration plaque. With an explosion, they started the new phase.

We flew toward Shushtar. On the way we landed in the Aqili area in the north of Shushtar. The important report on the integration of five thousand hectares was given by the Director General of Agriculture and the plaque was unveiled. It is an important work; it has tripled the crop. The people of the surrounding villages had gathered with warm feelings. I gave them an encouraging speech.

We flew. We landed beside the people's gathering in New Shushtar, next to the stadium. It was a very huge and enthusiastic gathering. An interesting anthem was sung by the Basij. Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Al-e Ghafour, the Friday prayer leader, and Mr. Zabihollah Karimi, the representative, gave welcome speeches and I gave a short speech that, due to sunset, was brief and in list form. I spoke about praising the people of Shushtar and hopeful promises.

We flew toward Ahvaz. On the way, the manager of the Shoaibieh sugarcane unit gave explanations. From the air we saw the project's lands; it is very good. Each hectare costs nearly one million tomans. Its contractor is the Ministry of Defense.

Early in the evening, the artists of Khuzestan Province came. In the form of tawashi, they recited poems in my praise and a poem for Palestine. Mr. Mohammad Reza Movahedzadeh, the representative of Ahvaz, spoke and gave a welcome speech. I spoke about the importance of art and the committed artist. Then I met with several old men, remnants of the mujahideen of World War II who fought the British. I gave them a gift.

We had a warm meeting with the clerics and clergy of Khuzestan. Mr. Mousavi Jazayeri, the Friday prayer leader of Ahvaz, gave a detailed speech and I too spoke in more detail and provided analyses to enlighten their thoughts. We had dinner and at twelve at night I came to the residence. I wrote the memoirs and listened to the twelve o'clock news and went to sleep at half past midnight. Mohsen also came from Tehran and brought the reports.