Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – December 30, 1986

I said goodbye from home with the intention of going to the front. Yasser was also supposed to come. But when he found out that my work is in the camps and I am not going forward, he did not come. In order to announce my presence in Tehran, I stayed in the public session of the Majlis until the speeches before the order and reciting the reminders. We were supposed to leave at nine in the morning. Due to the power outage, the cars could not get gas and we were delayed until eleven o'clock. In the meantime, I worked in my office.

The representatives of the West came and were worried about the threat of chemical bombing today. Mr. Rafiq Dost came. He gave a report on the quality of the explosion of the explosives warehouse in Shahid Beheshti Barracks and ordered to get foreign currency for military purchases from the Central Bank.

At eleven o'clock, along with Dr. Rouhani, Colonel Turabi and bodyguards, we left for Khuzestan with several cars. Outside Tehran, I wore a military uniform. We ate lunch anonymously in a coffee house between Qom and Arak. We refueled and had tea at one place and entered Khorram Abad at 6:30 PM. We settled in the guest house of the ground forces. They did not recognize me.

We had dinner very soon. I didn't want to be known. It was said that the commander of the ground forces would come. I don't know what the manager of the guest house, who was faced with unknown guests, along with many armed guards, thought? We informed about our arrival in Tehran by phone. The electricity was cut off and the TV news remained half-functioning. We also went to sleep.