Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 15, 1998

The first caravan of Karbala pilgrims, after years of being deprived of pilgrimage, today crossed the Khosravi border with a ceremony, but it is limited to the families of the selfless [martyrs and veterans]. A severe anxiety has gripped American embassies around the world and they are constantly receiving explosion warnings and leaving the premises. It is an intense psychological war and they are on full alert. Currently in Switzerland, Argentina, Albania, and so on.

Mr. Gholamreza Aghazadeh came. He gave a report on the situation of the nuclear energy projects and said that although Mr. Khatami has ordered the Plan and Budget Organization and the Central Bank, they have not yet taken action to secure the credit; he asked me to remind them. He has told Mr. Khatami that nothing will come of the economic organization plan and the people will become disappointed with and demanding of the government in another two or three months. He thanked me for the recent Friday sermon that showed the correct path for the government and the people and emphasized that he sees no way but returning to the atmosphere of the Construction era.

Mr. Hossein Mahlouji, [the former Minister of Mines and Metals], came and, by raising the country's political and economic problems, expressed concern about the dangers lying in wait and spoke about the government's and the Leadership's office's lack of planning and the cooling of the manager and effective forces, and expressed concern about the conspiracy against himself by the judiciary and the Leader's office.

Mr. Mohammad Hassan Tawlai, the Deputy Minister of Defense, came. He praised my past support and guidance of the country's defense industries and said that the country still sustains itself from them. He gave a report on the progress of the construction of a passenger plane with Ukraine and the plan for a larger plane with Russia and Ukraine and the completion of the sensitive engine of the unmanned aircraft with 35 horsepower and the construction of the Cobra and 205 helicopters and the cruise missile engine, and expressed concern about the small credits.

In the afternoon, I had an interview with the "Goftegoo" publication about the roots of the revolution and the role of religion and the religious, which remained unfinished; I spoke about the issue of the state and provincial associations and the Shah's White Revolution. Dr. Hadi Manafi came. He gave a report on the prosperity of the use of hypnosis in medicine and surgical anesthesia. He and several other doctors use it and have set up a training class. He said it plays a large role in saving medicine consumption and cited specific examples. He learned hypnosis from Mr. Bayat, a military retiree. Years ago, he gave us interesting demonstrations. He expressed regret about the conflicts of internal currents and the exploitation of foreign currents and said the counter-revolution has become brazen and impudent, especially in hospitals.

At night, the heads of the three branches had a meeting in my office. Mr. Nateq Nouri, [the Speaker of the Parliament], did not come due to back pain. The issue of the exposure against Mr. Ali Razini, the Head of the Judiciary of Tehran, was raised. The Tous newspaper today published Mr. Mohsen Nourbakhsh's, [the Governor of the Central Bank's], letter to the President, that with the Leadership's permission he has deposited 20 billion rials of the people's deposits in the judiciary into his own personal account to be used to help the livelihood of the judges, and has also spent it in other places outside the scope of the permission. Mr. Yazdi, [the Head of the Judiciary], was upset and said that for the first time Faezeh wrote about it vaguely in the Zan newspaper; it is arranged that a committee would investigate. In return for the municipality issue, they have launched a strong counterattack against the judiciary, and especially Mr. Razini.

We discussed Afghanistan. The Supreme National Security [Council] is confused and has no plan. I gave guidance based on the experience of the war. Mr. Khatami is departing for a trip to South Africa for the Non-Aligned summit and also to New York for the [General Assembly] of the United Nations, and consulted about meeting with the Iranians.

At night I stayed in my office. In the world reports, the tremendous explosion in Northern Ireland and the death of 28 people and the wounding of 280 people are noteworthy. The explosions in Ireland are unprecedented in thirty years. Usually, in the past, the bombers informed the police before the explosion to prevent casualties. This time too they did, but a mistake occurred and on the contrary they gathered the people at the explosion site. Most satellite televisions are featuring it at the top of their news; it is important after the explosions in Kenya and Tanzania.