There were interesting points in the meeting with the Iraqi guests. The five who spoke were a university professor, leaders of Sunni and Shia tribes, a cleric, and a female teacher. Sheikh Mansour Abdolhassan, the head of the Sunni tribes, had a face resembling Saddam Hussein and was wearing something on his head.
Mr. Akhtar Ebrahimi, the UN representative for Afghanistan, came and stated that the movements of the Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and Al-Qaeda are obstacles to ensuring security and reconstruction. He considered Pakistan's assistance to these groups an unjustifiable issue and added that the relatively good relationship between the U.S. and the Pakistani government and army further complicates the situation. He also expressed helplessness regarding drug cultivation and said that until a more powerful government is established, nothing can be done, and he mentioned that the U.S. will soon announce a one billion dollar aid package to Afghanistan, which would be helpful. Most of these points were expressed in response to my questions.
A group of tea merchants came. They criticized the government's and the Ministry of Jihad-e Agriculture's policies on tea and proposed a return to the policies of my presidency. They also made suggestions for improving tea cultivation and processing.
In the evening, 170 Iraqis—guests of the IRGC Quds Force—came. They were a mix of scholars, academics, tribal leaders, military personnel, and others. Five of them gave short speeches. They displayed good spirits. I also spoke about the importance of efforts to prevent the consolidation of American presence. Afterwards, we had a meeting with the clerics.
There were interesting points in the meeting with the Iraqi guests. The five who spoke were a university professor, leaders of Sunni and Shia tribes, a cleric, and a female teacher. Sheikh Mansour Abdolhassan, the head of the Sunni tribes, had a face resembling Saddam Hussein and was wearing something on his head and had shortened his mustache to reduce the resemblance. He said that 85% of the tribes oppose the American presence. In a private meeting, they protested in some way against the behavior of Muqtada al-Sadr. In both meetings, they said that the Iraqi people have learned about the path of Iran's revolution through your Friday prayer sermons. They requested an Arabic translation of them. One of them asked for Ayatollah Seyyed Kazem Haeri to go to Iraq. They insisted that Iran is the most important symbol of Islam. They requested that we not endanger Iran through conflict with America in Iraq.
In Iraq today, both the U.S. and the people had casualties. The U.S. announced that it has arrested about five thousand Iraqi people and that the Abu Ghraib prison, which had been closed, has been reopened.
The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported that the U.S. has had 240 killed and between four to eight thousand wounded in Iraq. Today, an American contractor was killed in Tikrit. The Arab League did not accept the U.S. invitation to send troops to Iraq and refused to recognize the Iraqi Governing Council, although it accepted negotiations with them.
In Palestine, clashes are gradually intensifying, and the ceasefire is in danger. In Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, a car bomb exploded next to the American five-star Marriott Hotel, killing 14 and injuring 150, and several embassies near the hotel were also damaged.
The delegation from the IAEA has arrived in Iran for legal negotiations. Mr. Taha Hashemi informed me that in today's meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Islamic Propaganda Office in Qom, through planning, Mr. Seyyed Hassan Rabbani was chosen to replace Mr. Mohammad Jafari Gilani, and he was also elected as the head of the Board of Trustees.
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