Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – October 19, 1991

I reached my office at eight in the morning. The road was busy due to the repair of bridges and the movement of guests. At half past eight, I went to the parliament to participate in the opening ceremony of the international conference supporting the Islamic revolution of the Palestinian people.

Before the start of the meeting, Mr. [Abdul Wahid] Mousavi Lari explained the program and announced that last night the heads of parliaments of several Arab countries had a private meeting to coordinate their positions and decided to raise the issue of lifting the blockade from Iraq in the conference and talk about the appropriateness of participating in the peace conference.

We went to the hall at eight thirty-four minutes. After the Quran and hymns, [Mr. Mahdi Karroubi] the chairman of Khairmoghaddam Majlis gave a speech and report. Then there was my detailed opening speech, which received the attention of the audience, and throughout the day I received phone calls and messages of admiration.

The guests went to meet the leader and I went to my office. Efat, who was in the meeting, came to my office; He was satisfied with the conference and my speech. Dr. Hashemi [Golpaigani] came for the agenda of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution.

In the evening Mr. [Sidkamal] Kharazi, [Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations] came and recommended that the execution of [drug] traffickers should not be announced [publicly] due to the abuse of the enemies. The Supreme National Security Council had a meeting. We warned Mr. [Mohammed] Yazdi, [Head of the Judiciary], about preventing the announcement of executions.

In this meeting, it was approved to allow Soviet Azerbaijan to create a safe road from the south of the Aras River to connect the two parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the event of Armenia's blockade, and it was also approved to sell water to the countries south of the Persian Gulf. I worked until half past seven and came home.