Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - January 11, 2002

Dr. [Ahmad] Qarib said that it is not right to take the heavy water reactor project next to the heavy water factory. Dr. Aghidi said that he had gone to Russia with Mr. [Gholamreza] Aghazadeh, [the head of the Atomic Energy Organization], and in a meeting with [Yevgeny] Adamov, the Russian Minister of Energy, it was said that we have an enrichment project and he asked for help to solve the problems; he thinks that the Russians have leaked it. They said that during Mr. [Gholamreza] Aghazadeh’s time, the scientific support of the organization had weakened. They opposed the return of the Bushehr fuel residues to Russia.

Full text of the daily:

Mr. [Mohammad Mohammadi] Rayshahri, [the representative of the Supreme Leader and head of Iranian pilgrims], came and said that in Saudi Arabia the government is distancing itself from Salafi and Wahhabi scholars and has appointed an intellectual as the minister of Hajj and has also changed the head of the Two Holy Mosques. He said that he was in Qom yesterday and that the cartoon insulting the Imam in Hayat-e-No newspaper had inflamed the atmosphere in Qom. He complained that I did not mention anything about the Hajj week during Friday prayers.

Mr. [Hassan] Danaeifar, [Deputy Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council] came. He spoke about the budget of the Discernment Council and stated that the United States would not launch a military attack.

Dr. [Hamid] Latifi, [Head of the Laser Research Institute of Shahid Beheshti University], Dr. [Reza] Masoudi, and Dr. [Saideh] Thaqafi came. They complained about the lack of attention of the government and the Ministry of Science to the laser science department and said that the research institute that was established on my order in 1995 remained unfinished. Ms. Thaqafi, who had a distinguished research position and high salary in Australia, came to Iran at the request of [Mr. Mostafa Moein], the Minister of Science, and Dr. [Mohammad] Farhadi; Now the laser laboratory is not suitable and has been left idle. I told Mr. [Hamid] Mirzadeh, [Deputy Director of the Majma’s Strategic Research Center] to follow up.

In the afternoon, Mr. [Reza] Amrolallahi, [former head of the Atomic Energy Organization], Dr. Aghili, Dr. Qarib, and Mousavi came. Dr. [Ahmad] Qarib said that it was not right to take the heavy water reactor project next to the heavy water plant. Dr. Aghibdi said that he had gone to Russia with Mr. [Gholamreza] Aghazadeh, [head of the Atomic Energy Organization], and in a meeting with [Yevgeny] Adamov, the Russian Minister of Energy, he was told that we had an enrichment project and asked for help in resolving the problems; he thinks that the Russians have leaked it. They said that during Mr. [Gholamreza] Aghazadeh’s time, the scientific support of the organization had weakened. They opposed the return of the Bushehr fuel residues to Russia.

At night, Mr. [Seyed Ali Asghar] Hejazi came from the leadership’s office and brought the third letter to the leadership, which was signed by 80 members of the government, parliament, and the [Party of] Partnerships, holding the leadership responsible for the problems and saying that the actions against the right wing are being carried out based on his policy and asking him to take a paternalistic and neutral stance in the factional disputes. He asked me to raise it tonight at the meeting of the heads of [powers]. He said that it was signed with the knowledge of Mr. [Seyed Mohammad] Khatami, [the President].

The meeting of the heads of [powers] was held in the office of Mr. [Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi] Shahroudi, [the Head of the Judiciary]. This letter was discussed and it was decided that Mr. Khatami would protest at the government meeting. Then, the Hayat Nou cartoon and the events that followed were discussed. Mr. Khatami said that the president had been insulted in the demonstrations in Qom yesterday. Mr. [Mohammad] Yazdi, [a member of the Guardian Council], has also spoken harshly. Mr. [Mehdi] Karroubi, [the speaker of the Assembly], said that he has asked Ayatollah [Ali] Meshkini, [the speaker of the Assembly of Experts], not to speak harshly at tomorrow's gathering at the Fayziyah School and to call for calm. Since religious centers across the country are closed and holding gatherings, they are worried about possible incidents. They said that they had taken Mr. Hadi Khamenei, [the editor-in-chief of Hayat-No newspaper] to the special court of the clergy and asked him to temporarily close it and apologize in order to create peace, but Mr. Karroubi said that [Mr. Ahmad Masjedi Jamei], the Minister of [Culture and] [Islamic] Guidance, had announced that Hayat-No newspaper and Bahar newspaper had been closed and that there was no longer any room for an apology. He said that they said that this caricature was from previous years and had nothing to do with the Imam, but they accepted that it was completely the Imam’s image and they had no justification for including it in the article on the collapse. Mr. Karroubi also objected to some members of parliament.

I told Mr. Khatami, [the President], that returning the spent fuel from the nuclear power plant to Russia was not the right thing to do and that the construction of the nuclear power plant was justified by these wastes. It was decided to look into it; Because seizing next-generation power plants raises security and military concerns.