Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 31, 1983

After the prayer, I studied the reports. Around eight in the morning, the Prime Minister arrived, followed by Mr. [Ali] Shamkhani and the interrogators of the Tudeh Party leaders, and they said that the party leaders had confessed to very dangerous truths and had exposed a joint conspiracy by the two superpowers and the reactionary forces, and had provided many names of infiltrators and their own agents. We thought it was necessary to inform the Imam. We went to the Imam's office. I called from the Imam's office and asked them to inform the Imam that we had urgent business—there was no one to notify the Imam of our presence—and the Imam immediately received us. We gave the report. The Imam considered the idea of a joint conspiracy unlikely, but regarded the basic conspiracy involving Russian agents as plausible, and it was decided that the matter would be clarified by investigating the individuals who had been named.

The Imam is concerned that if the revolutionary institutions act too aggressively in this matter, it will cause governments and powers to distance themselves further from Iran, and we may suffer in the war. There is no real cause for concern, but the Revolutionary Guard commanders are taking this matter very seriously. They also informed us that one of the Tudeh Party leaders had died in prison as a result of a heart attack.

I consulted with Mr. [Mir-Hossein Mousavi], the Prime Minister, and Mr. [Mousavi] Ardebili at our house about this matter. At noon I ate lunch alone. In the afternoon, Mr. [Ali Akbar] Mohtashami[Pour], our ambassador to Syria, came. He complained about the way Mr. [Mohammad Gharazi], the Oil Minister, had treated the Syrian ministers who were in Iran. I conveyed the complaint to Mr. Gharazi, and it became clear that Mr. Gharazi had also been misled about Syria's debt to us; for example, they had said two hundred million dollars was seven hundred million dollars, and he said that in the new agreement we had satisfied them. The Oil Minister complained about the irresponsible conduct of members of Parliament in Syria.

Then Ahmad Agha came and wanted a fuller explanation about the confessions of the Tudeh Party leaders that he had heard from the Imam. We discussed this together in terms of future policy. At night I was alone at home. I was reading and listening to the news.