Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – November 5, 1985

In the open session of the parliament, the law of the press expired. The guidance commission did not act very carefully and eventually it will have shortcomings in its practice. Mr. Mohammadi Gilani came to my office and brought Imam's message about the program of the Assembly of Experts and asked for his housing. He said that the imam does not agree with Mr. Montazeri's choice [to replace the leader].

In the afternoon, businessmen and ambassadors of Iran in Arab and African countries came. I spoke for them. They wanted more facilities to carry out the task of propagating the revolution and Islam in Africa. The UNESCO delegation came to visit the ancient monuments damaged in the Iraqi attacks and we had discussions.

In the evening, I went to the meeting of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. The regulations of the public culture control council were discussed and approved. It was decided to discuss the status of professors and the use of experts without educational qualifications and graduates of Tarbiat Modares school in the next meeting.

I went to Imam's service at night and we discussed his message about the assembly of experts. They are worried that appointing Ayatollah Montazeri as the future leader will cause enmity and break the work of other competitors. It should be done with caution and respect for the work aspects. Today, we talked with Mr. Velayati [Foreign Affairs Minister] about the quality of dealing with Australia's proposal based on our participation in the Security Council in the hope of Iraq being declared an aggressor, and it was decided not to participate in the Security Council meeting in order not to be sure of the results.