Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – January 17, 1984

I went to the assembly early in the morning. I read the reports. I read more about the conference of heads of Islamic countries - which was held in Morocco and we did not go. Overall, the majority is with the reactionaries and they will probably make decisions against us. It would have been better if we had gone.

In the public meeting, the election law bill was discussed. I left a part of the meeting to Mr. [Mousavi] Khoiniha [the second deputy speaker of the parliament] and came to my office. I read the reports. Mr. Hadi [Najafabadi] came and consulted about becoming a candidate; I said yes and promised to help and fix any possible problem.

The president of Tehran University and the group of the commission to deal with the effects of the oil spill in the sea came and asked for the seminar to become scientific, to get the budget and to solve the problems of the university in terms of rights, housing, and respect for the professor. Mr. Rozbahani, the head of the Shemiran committee, came and defended himself.

In the evening, Mr. Dr. Velayati came and we talked about foreign affairs and the recent strong positions of the Soviet Union against us. Our African and Asian ambassadors, who are having a seminar, came and I spoke to them about the Islamic mission of the revolution in the world's intellectual vacuum. The Soviet ambassador came and brought the message of the Supreme Council [Soviet Union]. There was no new content; Their goal was just to meet, and I criticized the Soviet position in the ongoing war with Iraq, and he spoke of our negative propaganda against the Soviet Union and wanted to praise relations.

In the first night, the heads of the ministers' offices and high-level officials of the country came. I spoke to them. I did the work in the parliament until half past eight in the morning and came home. I did not participate in the meeting of the central council of the fighting clergy community [Tehran] because I was tired from work.