Akbar Hashemi's Memoirs - January 13, 2002

Mr. Qassem Soleimani, [the commander of the IRGC's Quds Force] came. He told the results of his negotiations with the Iraqi opposition, for decisions in their future meeting in Iraqi Kurdistan, that they were supposed to elect a leadership council, and he also gave information about establishing a connection between the United States and some Iraqi military commanders, which I commented on, it would be good to transfer to Iraq through Syria. He said, now they are sending the needs of Hezbollah in Lebanon through Iraqi soil. The Syrians are receiving them at the Iran-Iraq border, taking them in their own names. He believes that Iraq has hidden some of its banned weapons in Syria.

Full text of the daily:

Today, there were gatherings, statements, and petitions in many cities against the Hayat-e-No newspaper and the reformists. In Tehran, the market was closed. Mr. [Mohammad Reza] Faker, [former representative of Mashhad], spoke harshly against Hayat-e-No and [Mr. Mehdi Karroubi], the speaker of the parliament, and the Participatory [Party] in the Bazaar gathering. A group demonstrated in front of the newspaper office in Tehran and set fire to the newspaper office in Khorramabad. Right-wing newspapers also wrote articles and news about the protests.
Mr. Ahmad Jalali, the president of the [General] Conference of UNESCO [= the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization], came. He spoke of the privileged position he had achieved through his own efforts. He criticized the weakness and indifference of the country's institutions in taking advantage of this position; especially Mr. Khatami, [the president], and said that Tehran had been made the regional center of UNESCO, and after a year, they still had not provided a suitable location. He complained about something being written about him in my [1983, Peace and Challenge] memoirs; I have written that he went to see me and complained about unemployment and lack of use.
[Mr. Firuz Dowlatabadi], our ambassador to Turkey, came. He spoke about the problems of the Turkish government in the face of pressure from secularists. Mr. Qassem Soleimani, [the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force] came. He said the result of his negotiations with the Iraqi opposition, for decisions at their next meeting in Iraqi Kurdistan, was that they were going to elect a leadership council, and he also gave information about establishing a connection between the United States and some Iraqi military commanders, which I suggested would be good to transfer to Iraq through Syria. He said that now they are sending the needs of Hezbollah in Lebanon through Iraqi soil. The Syrians are receiving them at the Iran-Iraq border, and they are taking them in their own name. He believes that Iraq has hidden some of its banned weapons in Syria.
Mr. [Assadollah] Badamchian, [political secretary of the Islamic Coalition Party], came this afternoon. He said that the closure of the Tehran market at the invitation of the Coalition [due to the publication of a cartoon in the Hayat-No newspaper] had responded well. He expressed surprise that the leadership had not closed their lessons in line with the seminaries throughout the country. Given the problems of managing the country, the future was discussed.
At the conference of 27 Asian and Oceanian countries in Malaysia, the need for a correct definition of terrorism was emphasized and the need to avoid the selective action that the United States is currently committing by turning a blind eye to Israeli violations and magnifying the violations of Muslims. Three new Islamic armed groups in Afghanistan have declared their existence against American soldiers.