Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 25, 1983

After the morning prayer, I came to the library and wrote some material to complete the article on the martyrs of the Seventh of Tir, based on the suggestion of the Islamic Republic newspaper. Then I slept a little and continued writing until noon. I was using the written memories from those days. It became clear to me that these brief notebooks of memories are very useful. I told the Foundation of the Oppressed to provide a place for the Foundation for the Compilation of the History of the Revolution. It was decided that Mr. [Abdolmajid] Moaadi-Khah would follow up. From my office, they informed me by telephone that I was scheduled to go to Isfahan on Monday afternoon to speak at the anniversary ceremony for the martyrs of the Seventh of Tir. A committee of representatives of various currents had been formed, and it was decided that its center would be the Isfahan governorate and that I would meet everyone there; later they informed me that Ayatollah Khademi [head of the Isfahan seminary] was unwilling to appoint a representative. The disputes in Isfahan are very harmful and cause the people to become discouraged.

At four in the afternoon, I went to the Majlis. I took care of the administrative matters and then went to the President's office to participate in the meeting reviewing the causes of high prices; we decided to add another 15 thousand tons to the 85 thousand tons of imported cheese, to ensure an abundance of cheese. The main discussion was about textiles, and it became clear that total consumption is 900 million meters, of which approximately two-thirds is produced domestically and one-third is imported. The existing production capacity [of textiles domestically] is about 750 million meters; it was decided to strengthen production by procuring materials and increasing shifts, and to focus on fabrics for general consumption, and to collect all the fabric at one center and then distribute it and register the price on the fabric and preserve the piece-goods shops. Some believed that we should eliminate them; this was not approved. We will discuss the distribution network later.

After breaking the fast, I had useful discussions with [Ayatollah] Mr. Khamenei about many important issues of the country, and decisions were made. The Central Bank and the Oil Company were told to give oil to the Syrian ship that had been held up at [Khark] Island for a month because of nonpayment of its debt, and to obtain a commitment that it would honor the agreements.