Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 12, 1995

We went to the Razi Institute in Hesarak to open a new laboratory animal breeding department and participate in the opening ceremony of the 1,700 construction projects of Jihad during the Construction Jihad Week. Yasser was also with him. Mr. [Gholamreza] Faruzesh, [Minister of Jihad Sazendagi] and [Alia Akbar] Mohammadi, the head of Razi Institute, reported and then the plaque was unveiled.

The ceremony was broadcast live on television. I gave a message to the jihadists. I visited the breeding and production halls of guinea pigs, rabbits and mice. They have the capacity to produce one million mice, one hundred thousand rabbits and one hundred thousand guinea pigs. There is a major savings in currency. They said that although the price of a laboratory animal they bring from England is about fifteen pounds, they sell their products to the applicants - who are mainly laboratories and researchers - for only three hundred rials.

We visited the exhibition of products, vaccines, serums, scorpions and snakes. They showed how to poison scorpions and snakes and gave explanations about the types of snakes and scorpions in Iran. In the meeting hall, we heard the welcome of Mr. Faruzesh and the report of Mr. Amanpour, the deputy director of Jihad Sazandegi Research.

I went to my office. Mr. Andreotti, the former prime minister of Italy, came. The negotiations were ceremonial. He praised my positions and spoke about his services during his tenure and especially the permission to build the great mosque in Rome, and I also spoke about the need to control the propaganda of news imperialism and imposing ideas on others, and I complained about the non-delivery of Iranian helicopters, and I thanked him for the cooperation in the construction of Mobarake steel.

[Mr. Yashar Aliyev], Deputy of the Parliament of the Republic of Azerbaijan, came. He brought Mr. [Haydar] Aliav's letter. He thanked Iran for the assistance and demanded the development of cooperation and was ashamed of the termination of our membership in the consortium. I also emphasized cooperation.

[Oil Minister] came in the evening of Mr. Aghazadeh. He reported on the replacement of new buyers of oil, instead of American companies. Regarding our new offer to Turkmenistan, to buy their excess gas and use its money in the construction of pipes, he said that it has received their attention, and he gave a report on his trip to Pakistan and consulted for the OPEC meeting.

[Mr. Morteza Bank], the governor of Kerman came. He had material about the issue of US sanctions and new cooperation with Russia and the problems of the executive branch.