Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 17, 1995

After breakfast and a short walk on the beach, we went to Mr. Petrosyan's villa, whom I had not seen last night. To go to Bandar Abbas, we went to the airport together. In the car, the first thing he brought up was the official contract with Russia to establish a Russian military base in Armenia. Maybe he was worried that I would raise a protest, he took the initiative and justified that until now there was a base, there was no fixed limit, no time, and no clear legal status, and with this contract, it was limited to one base and one army and 25 years of time, and he said that we have no choice but to do this, and if any of the republics do not do this, they will have the same fate as Azerbaijan.

Then he said that the contract to activate their nuclear power plant with the help of Russia is already partially suspended; This could have been objected to by us because of its environmental insecurity and he emphasized that safety conditions have been observed and we are in dire need of electricity.

At the airport pavilion, we waited for others. Mr. Aghayev, Mr. Rabbani and the Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan arrived and we flew to Bandar Abbas together in my plane. At the same time as we arrived, Mr. [Safar Murad] Niazoff also arrived. I received an official welcome. We flew with helicopters to Shahid Rajaei port. In the hall, the Bafaq-Bandar Abbas and Shahid Rajaei port and the situation in the Persian Gulf were explained on the model, and the commemorative plaque was unveiled by me and Niazoff, and when the tape was cut, we saw the departure of a train with seventeen wagons loaded with containers. It is very magnificent.

I did an interview. Then we boarded a ceremonial bus and saw the important parts of the port. It was explained by Mr. Turkan. The port is very neat and orderly and magnificent and impressed the guests with its greatness. We had rest, prayer and lunch at the sailors club restaurant. The club is clean and tidy and completely with marine and traditional style and has a general store.

Then I had a short negotiation with all the guests separately. We had a tripartite meeting with the presidents of Turkmenistan and Armenia. For the current joint cooperation of gas and electricity and with the delegations of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Burma, Philippines, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE. Then we went by bus and visited the refinery near the Bandar Abbas building.

Mr. Aghazadeh and Engineer Zamani explained; It was very important and Mr. Niazoff's interpretation was that the enormity of the work amazed them, but the length of the explanations made the guests tired and some of them fell asleep. We went to the airport and passed through the city of Bandar Abbas.

The car radio announced the death of Ahmad Agha at around 4:30 and made everyone sad. In the pavilion, the guests officially condoled me separately and with

The official escort left. We also saw off Mr. Rabbani and Mr. Petrosian, but we flew to Kish together. In Kish, we discussed the development of relations and the Karabakh war with Mr. Petrosian at the dinner table.

Mr. Petrosian left for Armenia, Mr. Rabbani stayed in Kish, and Dr. Velayati and I left for Tehran at eleven o'clock at night. I arrived home at one in the morning. Ashikh Mohammad and his wife Siddiqa had come. Chastity also came from Imam's house. We slept tiredly.