Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 19, 1987

First of all, Mohsen came and took remittances for cars, Rials and foreign currency for Shahid Hemet's project - the production of a long-range liquid fuel missile, similar to the Russian Scud B. In the morning news, the whisper of America's decision to retaliate against the missile attack on two of its ships has been raised.

I reached the parliament at 8:30 in the morning and read the reports until 10:30. The President of the United States has announced that he has made his decision to retaliate against our attack on American ships and has called the heads of Congress to consult. I ordered the troops to be ready to defend and prepare their plan for a counter attack.

Akhvi Mohammad [the head of the Broadcasting Organization] came. He asked for the propaganda policy and complained about handing over the powers of the war support headquarters to the three-member group. Regarding advertisements, I said not to provoke America, but to keep people's spirits fresh.

The head of the housing cooperative of the parliament employees came and asked for the acquisition of their desired land. Mrs. Mousavi, the interpreter of the parliament, came. He reported work and applied for the housing problem.

Mr. Agha Mohammadi came. He gave a report on his trip to Germany to investigate banknote paper production and his trip to Russia with the oil minister. The Russians have reacted coldly and an important agreement has not been made; They have only insisted on the construction of Sarkhes-Bandar Abbas railway.

Timsar [Air Force Commander Mansoor [Stari]] came. He gave a report on the situation of the air force and the plan of future operations. I told them to prepare plans to respond to the evil of the Americans and be ready to defend. Mr. Kharazi got the permission to issue the announcement of the War Propaganda Headquarters against the threat of the Americans.

At half past two, [Mr. Gholamreza Aghazadeh] the oil minister woke me up on the phone and informed me that the American ships surrounded the two oil platforms "Reshadt" and "Resalt" and warned the oil workers that they were going to shell the platform and asked them to evacuate it and finally set it on fire.

The commander of the army's navy also gave the same news and said that their people have also been evacuated. I told the air force if it can hit the ships and I told the navy to bring the missile launcher to the area. The IRGC is also going to shell the Sabri oil region of Kuwait. Akhavi Mohammad informed that the American TV has officially announced the attack as a retaliation for shooting at the Kuwaiti helicopter.

I participated in the meeting of the Supreme War Support Council. The Minister of Health was appointed to be responsible for the treatment of the war wounded. On the first night, we had a meeting with Mr. Khamenei, Mousavi Ardabili, and Mohsen Rezaei about the war and the American invasion of the oil platform. The imam had given a message to deal firmly. The proposal to launch missiles at the American ship or the Bahrain base was rejected at this stage, and it was decided to launch missiles at the port of Kuwait, where the ships with the American flag are still there.

I stayed at night in my office in the parliament. I had contact with military and oil centers. It turned out that American forces have left the area and one platform was destroyed and another platform was damaged. We got American radio. Most of the western powers have approved the action of the US and some of the eastern ones have condemned it and the heads of the political factions inside the US have mostly approved this attack.