Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 17, 1985

Khatam al-Anbia camp informed that the forces of Najaf camp have retreated in the northern part of Alaf Chardeh bridge. The army of Imam Hossein (a.s.) retreated without permission and without information, and left the Al-Ghadir brigade, which is from Yazd, alone, and as a result, the Al-Ghadir brigade suffered casualties before retreating, and the pressure on the Karbala [brigade] is very intense.

The forces that had gone behind the Tigris to the west, with the testimony of Mr. [Mahdi] Bakri, the commander of the [31st Ashura] army, who was one of the commanders of Rashid Sepah, have retreated to the east and raised the whisper of a complete retreat. I spoke with Mr. [Mohsen] Rezaei. He said that he does not agree with withdrawal, but others insist.

The news of another missile reached the center of Baghdad. The target was Saddam's palace, but later it turned out that the missile hit a building near Saddam's palace in the eastern quarter. Iraq censors the news of the missile attack [on Baghdad] and presents it as an explosion [by] internal agents against the government. In order to reduce the weakening of Saddam's position, the world media accompany him and usually magnify Iraq's insignificant bombings of Iran.

In the Majlis [Islamic Council] meeting, I told the representatives about the missile and the front's problems, and then I came to my office. I was constantly in contact with the front; Due to the problems of the budget discussion, we have to be in Tehran. Severe anxiety prevails. I asked Mr. Rouhani to come to Tehran and tell the facts of the war so that we can make a decision.

Mr. [Ayatollah] Khamenei, Ahmad Agha, [Mir Hossein] Mousavi and [Mousavi] Ardabili also came. Before we reached the consultation, Mr. [Mohsen] Rezaei announced that they have decided to withdraw. The consultation was rejected, but there was a discussion about the quality of treatment and compensating the weakness and the way of advertising. The achievements of the Badr operation and the announcement of the retreat to the newly captured strong positions in the waters of Hur were announced, and a decision was made about firing other missiles at Baghdad.

I contacted Mr. Velayati and Rafiq Dost [who went to Libya to buy missiles]; They reported the success in buying more missiles.

We also talked about the principle [continuation] of war. It was decided to discuss the evaluation of the full results of the [Badr] operation and obtain the Imam's opinion [about the principle of continuing the war] later.

I stayed in my office at night and contacted the front several times. I was worried that retreating without order and hastily would cause problems for the troops. The headquarters assured that [withdrawal] will be done in order and under control. At night, I slept late.