Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 23, 1988

The news in the western and southern front indicated the continued progress of Iraq in Iran. I decided to go to the front. I closed the suitcase. I arranged the affairs during the days of absence from Tehran. Necessary recommendations were made to the General Staff.

Dr. Rouhani came, we discussed the war and plans. It was agreed that he will not come with me and participate in the headquarters and form the institutions of the command area and help to send troops and strengthen the front. In the General Staff, they asked me not to go to the front due to the necessity of being in the center in the current situation.

After prayer and lunch, we left by car. Mehdi came with me with the intention of participating in the war, and Yaser was preparing to go to the front. Mohsen is seriously following the mass production of 130 km rocket; It seems that the new situation and Imam's message has created an unprecedented excitement in the front of the departed. They informed the headquarters that they have decided to call a period of caution and increase the mandatory period of military service and increase the salaries of the Basij fighters. The atmosphere of the country has become war and they have made the situation of the radio program extraordinary.

We left at one o'clock in the afternoon. Between Qom and Tehran, I changed my car and clothes. We prayed Maghrib and Isha prayers in a coffee house between Andimeshk and Pol Dokhtar and arrived at Dezful air base around twelve o'clock at night. We heard on the radio that the enemy was pushed back near Khorramshahr and Ahvaz road with heavy casualties.

I spoke to Mr. Mohsen Rezaei on the phone from the base. He said that we have chased the enemy to the border and he was very happy. We ate dinner, bread, cheese and grapes and slept. All in all, a difficult day passed and the pilot [Habib] Baqaei, the commander of the base, who participated in the mission of bombing the enemy, was very upset that the ground forces were very weak and lethargic.

On that day, when we were on the verge of deciding to withdraw from Halabja, even though the consultations and votes were positive, I was shocked. Verse "And the children of Israel passed by the sea, so Pharaoh and his army followed them, and they were enemies, even if he realized that he was drowning, he said, ``There is no god but the one who trusts in it.'' The children of Israel and we are Muslims" came. Later, Ayatollah Montazeri also said that they made an istikhara to propose accepting a ceasefire, the same verse or another verse is mentioned in the same article. I guessed that after our withdrawal, Saddam will continue to invade and fight and it will not end well for him, and today we see its signs in the global political atmosphere, and with the large presence of volunteer forces, the prospect of the military situation is also good, and their defeat in Shalamcheh today can be a good start.