Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - April 7, 2002

Nourbakhsh reported on the economic indicators and said that the budget for the year 2001 will be about 20,000 billion rials, will not be realized through taxes and the sale of state-owned factories, and will cause a lot of damage to development projects.

Although the U.S. insists on Israel's immediate withdrawal, Israel says it will continue the occupation, either knowing that the U.S. is not serious or caring about what the U.S. wants.

Full text of the diary:

[George] Bush and [Tony] Blair spoke about Palestine and Iraq in a joint interview after the talks at Bush's private ranch in Texas. Bush expressed despair with Arafat and expressed confidence that [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon would accept the withdrawal, and they spoke firmly of regime change in Iraq. In his message to Bush, Sharon said that he was trying to speed up military operations to solve the problem so that he could end the occupation.

Mr. [Mohammad] Nahavandian came. He has been relieved of his position as deputy minister of commerce and has been stripped of the position of managing the issue of Iran's membership in the World Trade Organization, which was appointed to this position by my decree during my presidency. He made some suggestions about the Center for Strategic Research [Expediency Council] and the issue of globalization.  

Mr. [Hadi] Tabatabaei, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, came and said, "[Mr. Mahmoud Hojjati], the Minister of Agricultural Jihad, has neither a proper knowledge nor an interest in agriculture, and that some of the important projects of Dr. [Issa] Kalantari, [former Minister of Agriculture], are abandoned and a number of scientific forces have been discouraged.

Mr. [Seyyed Hossein] Hashemi, the representative of the Middle East, gave a report on his actions in the recent inter-parliamentary meetings and his efforts to disrupt the UAE's plans for the Persian Gulf Islands project at the Indonesian, Cuban, and Moroccan summits. He expressed concern over the removal of Mr. [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh and the election of Mr. [Mohammad-Reza] Bahonar to the Expediency Council, because he considered him to be a prominent right-wing figure.

In the evening, Dr. [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh, [the head of the Central Bank], came and reported on the economic indicators and said that the budget for the year 2001 will be about 20,000 billion rials, will not be realized through taxes and the sale of state-owned factories, and will cause a lot of damage to the development projects. There was talk about his removal from the Expediency Council, and he thinks that his rivals have tried to distort his economic views.

The occupation of Palestinian cities continues and there are many clashes. Israel has admitted that 1,700 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in the past few days. The martyrs have exceeded 200 people, only in the Jenin camp, which has a fierce resistance, nearly 100 people have been martyred, and it is a renewal of the memory of Sabra and Shatila.  Although the U.S. insists on Israel's immediate withdrawal, Israel says it will continue the occupation, either knowing that the U.S. is not serious or does not care about what the U.S. wants, but the international pressure on Israel is enormous. Arab foreign ministers today called for an urgent meeting of the Security Council. The Palestinians are deeply dissatisfied with the Arab foreign ministers.

Russia says that in the recent clashes in Afghanistan, the United States has killed 100 people and wounded 200 and today the center of the international forces was attacked with mortars.  
Today, Effat returned from visiting the shrines.