Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 31, 2003

Today, at the Kushk office and at home, I spent the entire day studying, including reading a screenplay for the Sacred Defense.

In his interview, Mr. Bush, the U.S. President, took responsibility for the false statements regarding Iraq's purchase of uranium from Niger and moderated his tone regarding Iran. He considered Iran's action in detaining a number of Al-Qaeda members positive and called on other countries to join the U.S. in preventing Iran from becoming nuclear. American newspapers are discussing the possibility of a peaceful resolution of issues with Iran and the possibility of selecting James Baker, the former U.S. Secretary of State, for negotiations with Iran, especially regarding the Iraq issue, where they are in dire need of Iran.

In Iraq, several armed attacks were carried out against Americans, with a number of casualties. In response, U.S. forces, conducting 57 armed operations, arrested over 500 Iraqis. Mike Jackson, the commander of British forces, provided statistics on the presence of multi-national forces in southern Iraq and stated that oil production in Basra has reached about one million barrels per day.

Red Cross officials met with two detained journalists from Channel 2 of IRIB in Iraq. The Americans claim they were engaged in activities other than journalism.

The severe heat in Europe, along with widespread and unprecedented wildfires, has intensified the heat, and the number of unemployed is rising; in Germany, 12% and in France, 9.5%. Israel has announced that the first phase of the security wall between the West Bank and areas occupied since 1948 is complete, covering 240 kilometers with a height of six meters, which has caused major damage to Palestinians.

A committee of the British Parliament has announced that the Iraq war has had no effect on the threat of terrorism, and Al-Qaeda remains extremely dangerous. The Turkish parliament passed a law to remove obstacles to joining the European Union, which reduces the powers of the military and the Supreme National Security Council.

Israel is making a big issue out of the remarks made by the Supreme Leader at the ceremony for the delivery of the Shahab-3 missile to the IRGC, claiming that he said this missile is at the service of the Palestinian and Lebanese jihad, whereas the Supreme Leader told me that he had not made such a statement.