Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 16, 1985

I heard from the front that the forces have operated in the axis west of the Tigris and have captured the crossing of the Tigris and the Baghdad-Basra highway, but they have not operated from the north, which is the weak point of the work. Later, it turned out that one of the IRGC commanders was against [operations in this area]. I guessed that from there, the enemy will advance [and start operations]; I told them too.

In the parliament, before the order, I told the news of the war and praised the strange resistance of the people and the president during the Friday prayer ceremony at the university, when the bomb exploded and the red situation and the sound of the anti-aircraft guns, and I drew a new line regarding the similar confrontation [with Iraq]. Basra in front of Abadan and Khorramshahr and Baghdad in front of other cities and fighting and [using] chemical weapons [Iraq] will be faced with worse than that. I followed the front news in my office. The weak point is in the Najaf camp; It is difficult to prepare them.

In the evening, I did not participate in the [Islamic Council] meeting. Mr. Velayati and Rafiq Dost went to Libya to get more missiles; To continue to fight like this.

I stayed the night in the parliament. At the end of the night, Mr. [Fazlullah] Mahalati [representative of Imam in the army] informed from the camp that the situation [operations on the fronts] is not good. At one and a half in the morning, they called from the Imam's office and woke me up. They wanted [news] about the [situation] of the front. I said [frontline news] is not interesting. At that moment, the [air raid threat] sirens went off and red status was announced and anti-aircraft guns sounded all over the city. [The sound wave of] anti-aircraft fire, [related to] the building of the Majlis, shakes the building [our residence].