Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – April 7, 1988

I was at home until four in the afternoon. The war of the cities has become hotter. Our planes have hit Baghdad. Today, in addition to Tehran, Qom and Isfahan, Iraq has also fired missiles at Tabriz and Karaj. The issue of the Kuwaiti plane in Mashhad is reaching a dangerous point; It's like the Kuwaitis don't want to give concessions and the hijackers are trying to leave Iran. Kuwait and England are worried about the departure of the plane. Here they hope to find a solution with our help. I spoke with Mr. Khamenei, [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and [Ferydoun] Mahdinejad in this regard.

I went to the assembly in the evening. I read the reports and did the work. At the request of Mr. Emami Kashani, I asked Mr. Ray Shahri [Minister of Information] to explain why Ahmad Kashani's cases were pardoned and released and he was not released even though he was pardoned? The answer was that the Ministry of Information has not yet agreed to pardon him, because it has other issues.

I left for Qom at five in the afternoon. In the middle of the wireless he informed that an Iraqi missile had hit the [garden] of the British Embassy in Qalhak.

I arrived at Mr. Montazeri's house at seven o'clock. After the Maghrib prayer, I went to visit the Holy Shrine [Hazrat Masoumeh (PBUH)] and then we discussed with Mr. Montazeri about the war and the issue of elections. He does not want to seriously interfere in affairs. They are saddened by the effects of war, but they do not see a solution. They had recommendations about the displaced people of Halabja. Mr. Siddhadi [Hashmi] insisted a lot to solve the problem of political schools and library. We had dinner.

The governor of Qom came. He said about construction and welfare measures to solve the problem of the victims of Qom. Today, a missile hit Qom and damaged a school where Pakistani students are studying. He said that Ayatollah [Sayed Mohammad Reza] Golpayegani is unhappy with the restriction of the powers of the Guardian Council and may not participate in the elections. We left for Tehran at ten o'clock in the evening. On the way, they said that an Iraqi missile hit near the railway square tonight. I arrived in Tehran around midnight.

I spoke with Mr. [Alireza] Moiri, the Prime Minister, and Mr. Mahdinejad. The Prime Minister said, Turkish Prime Minister [Turgut] Özal and Pakistani Prime Minister [Mohammad Khan] Junjo have sent a message to not let the plane leave Iran. They are worried that they will be taken to Beirut and there they will damage the plane and no one will be responsible there.

We have said that if the Kuwaitis at least promise to release the prisoners requested by the hijackers, we might convince them. We told the IRGC to try to prevent the plane from leaving tomorrow morning. Although they have taken fuel and equipment and are ready to move, they have threatened that something bad might happen if we stop them. I caught the news at twelve o'clock at night and slept. I have a cold. I took painkillers.