Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – February 15, 1999

[Mr. Mohammad Sadiq al-Husseini, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance], the brother of the Lebanese Martyr Mohammad Saleh came. He got permission to write a book about me and suggested that I should be more involved in the affairs of the country and support Mr. [Syed Mohammad] Khatami. He described the Friday sermons before the presidential election [2nd of June 1376] and about the case of Tehran municipality and called it important and decisive and appealed to prevent the sale of the Palestinian Embassy residence by the Shahid Foundation. He said, the wife of Martyr Muhammad Saleh should teach Arabic [language and literature] for the sake of chastity. In the book he wrote under Mr. Khatami's name, he gave more important information about me that people around Mr. Khatami told him, it would be good if you named it Hashemi.

The members of the [national security and foreign policy] commission of the parliament came. We discussed important foreign issues, such as relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea issues, the issue of Iraq and the Arabs in the south. They criticized for not paying attention to some important issues. They said that Mr. Khatami's general policy regarding de-escalation has been useful, but in practice the relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Jordan have worsened. The Europeans' interest in Iran is for specific and dubious purposes, and we are in the same situation with America, and Saudi Arabia, after a period of friendship, has been saying negative things recently.

Our policy in Afghanistan is based on paying more attention to the Tajiks and Shiites, and then to the Pashtuns, etc. In Iraq, our policy is based on not trusting Saddam and the Baath Party, which has recently been questioned, and internal differences have gradually led to hostility and conflict, which is dangerous.

It has been reported in the news that today some students of Qom protested and attacked Ayatollah Yusuf Saneyi, [from Marjah Taqlid], because of his support for the left wing. In the evening, some time was spent learning how to use the Internet.

Mr. [Gholamreza] Faruzesh, [Syedmansour] Razavi and Dr. [Hadi] Manafi came. They have been nominated for the [elections] of Tehran city council. They talked about election campaigns and the results of the recent murders. I said, the leadership told me last night, Mr. [Mohammed] Niazi, [Tehran's military prosecutor], the judge of the case, is slowly approaching the conclusion that foreign provocations are involved.