Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 29, 1999

I went to my office. Before and after noon, a large number of government officials, ministers, members of Parliament, and employees of the [Expediency Discernment] Council came to pay their New Year visit. We held discussions with some of them according to their respective responsibilities. Among them was Dr. [Isa] Kalantari, Minister of Agriculture, who said that despite the good recent rainfall, about thirty percent of this year’s rain-fed crops had been lost. We had not experienced any significant frost damage, even though overall we had a warm winter. The trees have not yet blossomed, because the weather has been alternating between cold and warm, and each time it turns cold, the readiness of the plants that had begun as a result of the warmth is completely lost. He said that France’s refusal to eliminate alcoholic beverages from the official dinner during Mr. [Seyyed Mohammad] Khatami’s, [President], visit to France was not a good sign.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Abdolvahed Mousavi] Lari, Minister of the Interior, and his deputies came. They gave explanations about the council elections. They are satisfied with the results, but apparently the results are far from what they had hoped for, because the total number of votes for government supporters is low. They hope that the independents will lean toward the government. They asked me to help resolve the outstanding problems that had not been resolved by the [Oversight] Board. They are concerned about the supervision of the [Sixth] parliamentary elections, which is the responsibility of the Guardian Council, and have submitted bills and proposals to Parliament aimed at reducing the powers of the Guardian Council.

Mr. [Bijan Namdar] Zangeneh, Minister of Oil, is pleased with the improvement in oil prices. He hopes that the rise in prices will continue and remain stable. I told him that care must be taken to ensure that producers do not violate their quotas. Iran is chairing the Monitoring Committee, and any possible violation by Iran itself could make matters more difficult, because the basis for reducing Iran’s oil production quota remains unclear.

The President’s Office announced that, due to the failure to observe Islamic proprieties and customs concerning the arrangements for the President’s reception in France, the trip to that country would not take place at the scheduled time. For some time, there had been discussions and negotiations over whether alcoholic beverages should be served at the official reception. The French had said that Mr. [Jacques] Chirac did not want to be the first president to violate France’s long-standing tradition of serving wine at official receptions. Given the importance of this trip, its cancellation will give rise to extensive discussion and analysis. In the early years of the Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei had faced the same debate and controversy during a trip to Africa concerning a reception hosted by [Robert Mugabe], President of Zimbabwe. I slept in my office at night. Until late, I studied the Internet and worked with it.