Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 20, 1988

I was at home. Most of the time was spent studying. Mr. Sayad Shirazi came. He reported the situation of the front. He called the role of the air force, defense and air force in the operation important and suggested that too much one-sided propaganda should not be in favor of the IRGC, because the army would be disillusioned.

Mr. Natiq Noori from Mashhad consulted about the list of candidates for the Tehran elections. Ms. Marzia [Dabbagh and] Gohar al-Sharia [Dasghib and Mr.] Morteza] Katirai have requested that their names be removed from the list due to the presence of some people in the list of the militant clergy community. He suggested people to replace them, which I did not oppose. I requested Mr. President that it would be better if they don't go to Mashhad in the conditions of war between the cities.

The news about the number of people killed in Halabja in Iraq's chemical bombing is different. Some have said about one thousand people and some have said about four thousand people. I told Mr. Sanjaghi to investigate.

During the delivery of Sal, I was at the table with Efat and Fati, Saeed and Sara. We listened to the message of Imam and Ayatollah Khamenei. I gave the children an Eid. Half a coin for adults and quarter of a coin for children. Mehdi and Yaser's place is empty. They are at the front. Mohsen has also gone to Rafsanjan. Fazeh had also gone home.

Mahdi called from Bakhtran and said that he is going to the front line and Yasir is in Halabja. He insisted that I send a delegation to deal with the situation of Halabja refugees and protect people's property.

I slept at eleven o'clock. I woke up at 11:30 with the sound of an Iraqi missile explosion. It turned out that it hit the Farmaniye region, near us. Tonight, I ordered to stop the one-way attack on Iraqi cities for twenty-four hours; As Ahmed Agha and Mr. Mousavi Ardabili suggest, Iraq may want to end the war of cities. It is good that we open the way for them.