Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 13, 1999

It was reported that Mr. [Bill] Clinton, [President of the United States of America], was acquitted in the Senate. He was impeached and tried on the two charges of lying and trying to prevent the implementation of the law, and the Republicans were defeated. For several months, they had excited America and the world.

Before noon, the infrastructure commission [and production affairs of the Expediency Council] had a meeting for the general policies of the water sector. After the meeting, Mr. Dr. [Isa] Kalantari, [Minister of Agriculture] came and asked me to help, after Mr. [Mohammed] Yazdi, Dr. [Hassan] Rohani became the head of the judiciary. Mr. Dr. [Mohsen] Nourbakhsh, [Chairman of the Central Bank] came and said, the American Chamber of Commerce has invited Mr. [Ali Naghi] Khamshi, [Chairman of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce], and it is good for him to accept. He said, with the insistence of Mr. Khatami, [the list of construction agents party], 12 people with the left wing, in the city council [elections] candidates.

They share Tehran.

In the evening, I went to the Hajj and Pilgrimage hall for the opening of the international Quran reading and memorization competition for students aged 13 to 17. Participants are expected to come from 29 countries. Some had not yet arrived. After the report of Mr. [Hossein] Muzafar, Minister of Education, I gave a speech. I returned to my office and did the work until nine o'clock at night.

In the left-wing newspapers, today there is a lot of noise about the beating of Mr. Hadi Khamenei, but the Keihan newspaper has blamed the attack on the left-wing. It is reported in the news that the former manager of the German bank branch in Iran was killed by an armed robber on the way to Kashan. It will probably be the source of rumors between Iran and Germany.

The news of the disappearance of [Osama] Bin Laden, [the leader of Al-Qaeda], has spread in Afghanistan, which is strange. The Taliban is under pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia to hand him over. Sometimes it is said that he went to Iraq or to Chechnya or to Iran and some say that he is in Afghanistan. [Abdullah] Ocalan, [the leader of the Kurdish Workers Party of Türkiye (PKK)] is also suffering from such a fate; No country will accept him. After he was expelled from Syria, he is wandering. Western countries' pressure on terrorists has created this situation.

Mr. [Ahmed] Janati, [Secretary of the Guardian Council], thanked me for my Friday sermons on the phone and asked for time for a joint meeting of the Guardian Council and the Board of Experts.