memoirs of akbar hashemi october 21 2003

At 7:30 in the morning we departed from Tehran Airport for Shiraz. Messrs. Dr. Issa Kalantari, former Minister of Agriculture; Ali-Mohammad Besharati, former Minister of Interior; Sadegh Afshar, CEO of the Railway Company; and Reza Ardakanian, Deputy Minister of Energy, were accompanying. On the way, they gave explanations about the Isfahan-Shiraz railway project and the dams of Fars Province.

After the reception by officials and a short interview at Shiraz Airport, we went to the air base and participated in the commemoration ceremony of the martyrs of the Air Force of the province. Eighty of the two thousand Air Force martyrs are from Fars Province; among them is the martyred Major Pilot Abbas Doran, who, by crashing his missile-hit aircraft into the building adjacent to the building Saddam had prepared for the summit of the Non-Aligned countries in Baghdad, proved the lack of security and prevented the summit from being held in Baghdad, which was an important victory for Iran.

Various programs, the report of Colonel Seyyed Reza Pardis, the force commander, and Mr. Mousavi, the head of the political-ideological [office of the Air Force], and then my detailed speech about the role of the armed forces, the Air Force, Martyr Abbas Doran, Fars Province, and the martyrs were carried out.

After the noon prayer, I visited the Sukhoi aircraft—which we have bought from Russia and also brought from Iraq—and also the large Iraqi Ilyushin aircraft. Interestingly, our pilots, whose training and main work has been with Western aircraft, have become fascinated upon becoming familiar with them and consider them superior to similar American aircraft. They complain about the lack of parts and the overhaul program.

We also saw the washing method of the P-3 aircraft, which have missions over the sea and, because of the saltwater vapor of the sea settling on their fuselage, create a great danger. We also visited an electronic display to show the operation of Martyr Abbas Doran.

After lunch and rest and hearing the Air Force commander's request for financial needs and parts and so on, we went to Marvdasht; to see the work of the Shiraz-Isfahan railway project and the Shiraz-Persepolis section. This project had begun by my order in 1996, but was stopped in the current government and has recently been activated. Mr. Afshar gave a report. Its major part awaits the finance contract with China. I emphasized that it must also extend to Bushehr and Assaluyeh. It is an important work.

Then we went to the site of Naqsh-e Rostam in the north of Persepolis. The cultural heritage and tourism expert gave information about the artifacts there. There are several halls without passages and with only a small window to the outside in the heart of the mountain, which they say are the burial places of several Achaemenid and Sasanian kings. There are reliefs on the face of the mountain and a building that they say was the qibla of Zoroaster or the place where the [book] Avesta was kept.

With a short interview I returned to the city and we went to the office of the Friday prayer leader for a meeting with the clerics and seminary students of the city. A huge crowd of the clergy was present. They gave eloquent welcomes with much praise. I also gave a detailed speech about the role of divine religions, especially Islam, in managing societies and the duties of the clergy and the achievements of the revolution.

One of the clerics protested about the existence of un-Islamic practices in the country and also about the IRIB. While accepting part of his criticisms, I answered his incorrect statements, which was welcomed by those present.

After having dinner and negotiating with the clerics and meeting a group of seminary students who were my contemporaries in studies in Qom and are now in Shiraz, we went to the governorate guesthouse to rest.

I read the news from the computer. The trip of Jack Straw, Dominique de Villepin, and Joschka Fischer—the three foreign ministers of Britain, Germany, and France—to Iran for nuclear issues, their negotiations, and the final statement of the negotiations have the most domestic and global coverage and have overshadowed all the news. Iran, in return, by accepting them to confirm the enjoyment of the peaceful benefits of nuclear technology, has agreed to sign the Additional Protocol and to make its programs transparent and temporarily suspend enrichment.

A group of Basij students demonstrated in front of the negotiation venue in Sa'dabad against accepting the Additional Protocol and chanted "Death to the compromiser." The authority to negotiate has been given to Dr. Hassan Rouhani, the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been sidelined.

The clashes in Iraq have intensified, and the demonstrations of government employees due to the harassment by the occupiers have made the situation worse. In Palestine too, the clashes have intensified.