Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 5, 1999

I was at home. Last night I had a fever and I did not sleep well. Today he rested more. At noon, some children were gathered. Faezeh, [Tehran's representative], returned from a trip to Qatar and reported on the trip and said that the speaker of the parliament and the representatives were very well received and had a live TV interview. He said that the special [Clergy] court told the press not to write the name of Ayatollah Montazeri, but the press says that the court does not have such a right.

Mehdi, [CEO of Marine Engineering and Construction Company], had returned from a trip to India, Russia and Ukraine. In India, they have talked about selling gas. He said that the technical facilities of the Russian Gazprom company are very good and he said that the contract for the development of the Drudgaran oil field has been closed.

At night, Ali Akhwazadeh came. He gave a report on the council elections and said that the left wing is worried that the special [Rohanit] court will detain Mr. [Saeed] Hajarian and [Mohsen] Aminzadeh, etc., over the case of publishing Shabnameh against Lehbari.

They are also worried about the words of Mr. [Mohammed] Yazdi, [Head of the Judiciary], in the interview yesterday, about the case of Mr. [Gholamohsin] Karbaschi. He raised the possibility of increasing the punishment and said that the leftists have extensive preparations to fight the special clerical court over the arrest of Mr. [Mohsen] Kadivar. Mr. [Attaullah] Mohajerani, [Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance] has said that the leadership has given him evidence regarding some newspapers, such as Sobh Uzur and Khordad, etc., and the second interrogation of Mr. [Abdullah] Nouri, [the director of Khordad newspaper] was also harsh.

He said, the work environment in government environments is not good. To stay or not to stay in the Ministry of Oil, consulted; I told him to stay. In the foreign media, as in the domestic media, the issue of [Mohsen] Kadivar's arrest has been given a lot of attention and they relate the issue directly to the leadership.

For some time now, we have been witnessing daily US and British air strikes on Iraq, on a limited basis. By rejecting the UN resolutions and canceling the flight restrictions and activating its anti-aircraft defenses, the Iraqi government gave them an excuse without being able to defend effectively. It just turns on the radars and immediately hits the missile.