Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – May 28, 1993

Late last night, Mohsen Rezaei, [Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC], who was informed that I told Mr. [Ali Mohammad] Besharti to speak tomorrow before the Friday prayers in Tehran and protest against the actions of the Saudis, requested on the phone that I excuse him from this speech, because he might get emotional during the speech and say unaccountable things; I accepted

I was at home all day and most of my time was spent walking, reading reports and resting. Chastity went to Karaj with the children. Before noon, Mr. Ray Shahri said on the phone from Makkah that the Saudis have surrounded the mission. He asked for help to solve this problem; Because it is not possible to travel to and from the mission and they cannot do the work of the ceremony. I told Dr. Velayati, [Minister of Foreign Affairs] to take action. I also assigned Dr. Hadi [Najafabadi], who was there, to take action there. In the evening, the news came that the blockade has been lifted.

Dr. Velayati came and gave the report of his trip to Spain, Georgia and the countries of the south of the Persian Gulf. He believes that the Spanish are willing to develop relations with Iran and [Mr. Philip Gonzalez], the Prime Minister of this country, wants to come to Iran. He said that Shah Fahd is serious about traveling to Iran and also for cooperation in helping Bosnia and fighting against the falsification of Western taxes on oil. He learned from Sheikh Zayed [Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates] and his son Hamdan that they do not want to strain relations with Iran in the current situation, and the foundation for further negotiations has been laid. We decided to act without haste. The Qataris have also taken seriously the issue of taking water and passing the gas pipeline through Iran. Georgia also attaches great importance to cooperation with Iran. It was decided to issue a statement against Saudi [Arabia] by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.