Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi - March 18, 2003

Consultative meeting with the deputies of the Center for Strategic Studies following the attacks on Iraq and listening to Hassan Rouhani's report on the exchange of Iraqi and Iranian prisoners

Consultative meeting of Majid Ansari, Behzad Nabavi, Seyyed Ali Akbar Mohtashami, Esmaeil Jabbarzadeh, and Mohsen Safaei Farahani on the budget of the Guardian Council and the decision of the Discernment Council in this regard and Hashemi's advice to them to comply with this resolution

Full text of the diary:

According to the news, US forces have entered the neutral zone between Iraq and Kuwait. Two million leaflets were dropped over Iraqi cities by American planes with the aim of psychological warfare.
It was reported that Tariq Aziz [Iraq's deputy prime minister] was on the run, and a few hours later, with a live interview with Tariq Aziz, this rumor was dismissed, an example of the waves of psychological warfare.

The Turkish government said that a deal has been reached with the United States that American warplanes will use Turkish airspace and in return the Turkish army will be allowed to enter Iraqi territory.

After eight hours of debate, the British House of Commons approved [Prime Minister] Tony Blair's war policy. The Security Council is currently meeting at 10 p.m., but the United States, Britain and Spain are not participating, and most of the speeches are condemning the military attack.

In Afghanistan, a missile attack was carried out on a base of American forces, and in Yemen, a Yemeni with a gun killed an American and a Yemeni and committed suicide.

We had a meeting with the deputies of the Center for Strategic Research [Expediency Council]. They discussed Iraq and the American threat. Dr. [Hassan] Rouhani, [head of the Center for Strategic Research and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council], said that in the exchange of Iraqi prisoners, about 100 prisoners captured after 1991 [= 1991] were not released, while Iran did not release a number of prisoners.

In the evening, Messrs. Majid Ansari, Behzad Nabavi, [Ali Akbar] Mohtashami, [Esmail] Jabbarzadeh, and [Mohsen] Safaei Farahani, came from the Parliament. I said that it is not acceptable to withdraw the Expediency Council's decision, and that the Supreme Leader who should allow the revision is opposed, and the Assembly itself is opposed. With the explanations I gave, they were convinced that we should give some calming news about the meeting, which we gave. It was decided that they would stop weaving negativity. The publication of the public relations statement of the Assembly and the minority faction of the Majles has made them passive.