Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 30, 1988

I was at home until nine o'clock in the morning. I went to the parliament. Mr. [Mortaza] Razavi, a former representative of Tabriz and a candidate for Tehran, came. He complained and appealed against his disqualification by the Guardian Council. Mr. [Fouad] Karimi, the candidate for parliament representative from Ahvaz, also complained.

Mr. [Gurban Ali] came to Dari [Najafabadi]. He reported the trip to the front and had suggestions. Mr. [Hossein] Kamali and [Alireza] Mahjoub came and had some questions about the elections. They said that the opinion poll of the Labor House shows that the situation of the candidates of the militant clergy community is still better than other candidates.

Mr. [Ibrahim] Sanjaghi informed that we lost the heights of Mani Tabuk, which we had taken the night before yesterday. Iraq uses chemical weapons on the battlefield on a large scale. Anti-aircraft defense was weak today, I asked Dr. Rouhani for an explanation. He said that the [missile system] was hit today.

Mr. [Kamal] Kharazi informed that Kuwait has claimed that three Iranian boats attacked Bubiyan Island and the truth is that yesterday IRGC forces seized three Kuwaiti boats accused of espionage in Khor Abdullah and today as they approached Bubiyan shores, the Kuwaitis started shooting and our forces responded. I said that an announcement should be published by the War Propaganda Headquarters. Yasser is better and his wound is healing.

The wave of condemning Iraq for the massacre of the people of Halabja has peaked and the war of the cities continues; Iraq has both lost ground and suffered a political blow.