Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – January 12, 1986

I reached my office at half past seven in the morning. I reviewed the report of the last two or three days. I did not see a great article. I stayed in the public meeting until ten o'clock. There was a bill to buy back and retire incompetent teachers, which was rejected. The Japanese delegation headed by [Mr. Masayauki] Fujio - the ideologue of Japan's ruling party - and the head of the Friendship Association with Iran met in the Japanese Parliament and brought the letter of the Japanese Prime Minister. They talked about the development of relations and the war and the French and American hostages in Lebanon.

In the evening, the foreign minister of India met and discussed the relations between Iran and India. Mr. Malekpour, the representative of Zoroastrians, came to the parliament. He reported his trip to America. On his own suggestion, he went to find a weapon and returned empty-handed. He used to talk about the sensitivity of the Americans about the Imam, Ayatollah Montazeri, me and [Mousavi] the Khoinis.

After the Maghrib prayer, Mahmoud, who came from Syria, was worried about the situation regarding the French hostages and said that the hostage takers made promises to Hafez Assad [Syrian President] that were not fulfilled. They say that the French should first free their prisoners in Paris. We also took actions regarding war and war purchases and related issues.

In the afternoon Mr. Hosseini, the representative of Sirjan, came and talked about the differences between the two schools of thought. He wanted me to prevent their own thought process from being accused of being against the leadership. I came home at night.