Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 11, 1990

The Persian Gulf crisis is developing. In the morning, Mr. Mirzadeh, [Executive Vice President] came for current affairs, reconstruction and issues related to the Kish Free Zone. Mr. [Abdullah] Nouri, [Interior Minister] came. The issues of earthquake victims, fight against social corruption, plan to integrate police forces, issues of Persian Gulf, Saddam, Kuwait and foreign forces in the region were discussed.

Mr. Elahi, [Cultural Deputy of Shahid Foundation] came; He is going to the conference of religions in America, which is organized by the church; consulted Mr. [Syed Hossein] Moussovian came. He gave a report on the negotiation with the Swiss ambassador and the meeting with the western ambassadors. All of them expect Iran to be more active against Saddam than the current situation; They offer weapons and support in the United Nations in order to implement the resolution. Mr. Mousaviyan protested that the Swiss ambassador had apologized for announcing the exchange of messages between Iran and America.

At noon, Messrs. [Siros] Nasiri and [Ali] Khorram came and reported on the Geneva negotiations; There has been no progress and Saddam's reaction to the sent letter has not yet arrived. They said that Hinduja reported that America and England have decided to remove Saddam and have agreed on his successor. He has suggested that relations between England and Iran be established soon and he has requested that [Roger] Cooper be released earlier.

In the evening, the Supreme Council of National Security had a meeting. We negotiated and made a decision regarding the policies of dealing with the issue of Kuwait and Iraq and foreign forces. It was decided to avoid military conflict with Iraq. Oppose the presence of foreign forces in the region. Full military readiness should be maintained to take advantage of the opportunities and the Geneva negotiations should continue. Also, the acceptance of Saddam's envoy to Iran should be conditional on the acceptance of the 1975 Algerian Treaty. At the same time, advertisements should be controlled and negotiations with the southern and Soviet countries should be activated.

At night, we were the guests of Ayatollah Khamenei with Mr. Ahmad Agha and Dr. Velayati [Minister of Foreign Affairs]. These approvals were proposed and approved by him. I arrived home late. Saddam's proposal came from Geneva that he asked Mr. [Syros] Nasseri to go to Baghdad and meet the Minister of Commerce of Iran and Iraq.