Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 17, 1987

In the public meeting of the parliament, the bill to refer disputes with France regarding Iran's loan to arbitration was discussed. Before the meeting, at the request of [Mr. Mohammad Javad Irvani], Minister of Finance, I warned that numbers should not be mentioned in the speech so that they could be abused by the enemies.

Before the order, I thanked the words of Ayatollah Montazeri who agreed to declare the anniversary of the parliament as "law day". I stayed in the meeting till the end until it was approved. I had several meetings in the afternoon. [Mr. Bijan Namdar Zanganeh] Minister of Jihad [Construction] came and asked for the approval of the bill to merge the two ministries of Jihad and Agriculture.

In the evening, I met with [Youssef bin Alawi bin Abdullah] Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman. He was acting from the position of the younger brother and brought the letter of Sultan Qaboos. I also spoke in detail about the security of the Persian Gulf and the relations between the countries of the region and protested against the action of Kuwait.

Mr. [Syed Mohammad Ali] Abtahi, the manager of the radio [= Voice of the Islamic Republic] came and gave a performance report. I gave remarks about the lectures. The Central Board of Land Allocation came. They said about the slow progress of the sale of temporary cultivation land and the lack of cooperation of the judicial system and the organizations regarding the implementation of Article 49.

Members of the Agriculture Commission [Parliament] came and consulted on the bill to merge the Ministry of Agriculture into Jihad. It was decided that natural resources and fisheries will be a separate ministry and agriculture will be integrated. Mr. [Bijan Namdar Zanganeh] Minister of Jihad [Construction] also came and requested for the approval of the bill. Mr. [Alireza] Salari, our ambassador in Germany, came and asked for an opinion about our policy with Germany and expressed concern about the closure of the Goethe [Institute] [in Tehran] and suggested that we stay and control it.

I went home in the evening. During iftar, Mr. Sanjaghi informed that a Soviet oil ship hit a mine near the coast of Kuwait and was damaged. It was also in the news. It is both interesting and worrying. The children went to the al-Sadiq community center [Imam Sadiq University (AS)] for the revival [evening ceremony] and I stayed at home alone.