Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 5, 1981

Early in the morning, Mr. Mohsen Rezaei came to the house and gave a report on the campaign against the various opposition groups. It became clear that the person responsible for the bombing of the Islamic Republican Party office, the fugitive Mojahed [Mohammad Reza] Kolahi, was a member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq. This is evident from a file that the Islamic Association of his university had previously compiled on him.

We had a public session. The introduction of the Foreign Minister was on the agenda and was approved. Mr. Mir-Hossein Mousavi, editor-in-chief of the Islamic Republic newspaper, became Foreign Minister. From the beginning, Mr. Rajaei had nominated him, but Bani-Sadr had refused to accept him. Dr. [Hassan] Ayat and Ahmad Kashani opposed him and had a bad reaction, especially Mr. Ayat, who is a member of the Central Council of the Party.

In the afternoon, a meeting of the Central Council of the Party was held in my office. We discussed the midterm parliamentary elections and made decisions regarding a number of candidates. It was decided that several people should also, as a precaution, put themselves forward as presidential candidates so that we would not find ourselves at an impasse if a problem arose. The security situation is bad.

In the Majlis hall, a meeting was held consisting of executive officials and members of the Majlis who remained among the supporters of the Islamic Republican Party, following the weekly meetings that used to be held at the Party. We are still a large group. It was a commemoration and a review of the causes and consequences of last week’s tragedy.

I came home for iftar. Ahmad-Aqa Khomeini called and relayed a report from Mr. Fallahi concerning the Mojahedin-e Khalq’s plan for a large-scale movement in the streets of Tehran, in cooperation with Iraq and the militant Kurds. He also reported that the Freedom Movement had sent a letter to Imam condemning the Mojahedin and suggested that it be broadcast.