Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – September 13, 1993

I went to Ayatollah Khamenei's office at nine o'clock in the morning. The Bosnian delegation also came. The negotiations were short and had little content. We went to the airport together. On the way, I asked about their life situation and negotiations in America, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia, and the plan to continue negotiations in Geneva, the possibilities of peace, and how their way to the sea was, and the status of Sarajevo after peace; He gave a good explanation.

By the door of the airport, a group of Bosnian athletes who are competing in Iran had gathered to see him. We got off. He went among them. They were very warm and friendly and chanted the slogan "Bosnia's honor is with Ali". They took pictures. Later, he told me that they wanted to give the slogan "The way to happiness is in Jihad", but they were told that it is not expedient at the moment. We had an interview. His deputy, Mr. Ayub Gulij, praised Iran's sweets a lot. I told them to take the few kilos that were in the airport hall with them. I gave him one million dollars from the price of the oil shipment that we have planned for them and they could not consume all of it. They went to Kuwait. He was satisfied with his trip.

I met with [Mr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al-Kwari], Minister of Culture of Qatar. The negotiations were short and friendly. Mr. [Mohammed Hasan] Jamshidi, the representative came to Behshahr. He was a prisoner in Iraq for seven and a half years and was sentenced to seventy years in prison because of his activities in the camps. He thanked me a lot for the effort I made to free the captives. He said that when they were in Iraq, it was clear to them what role I had played and the Iraqi commanders had also told them. He asked for help for Imran Neka and Behshahr.

In the evening, Mr. Zanjani, [Head of the Planning and Budget Organization], Aghazadeh, [Oil Minister] and [Mohammed Javad] Vahaji, [Head of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance], came to negotiate the amount of tax and oil revenue in the 1373 budget. The Economic Council had a meeting. We approved the directive for preparing the budget for 2013.

I saw the program of the signing ceremony of the PLO [= Palestine Liberation Organization] and Israel on the lawn of the White House and the speech of [Yasser] Arafat, [PLO leader] and [Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin and [Bill] Clinton, [President of the United States] on the CNN TV channel. I was impressed. I came home Chastity also cried after seeing its scenery. Arafat also seemed very upset.