Now that our army and Revolutionary Guards officers, who are experts of war, clearly admit that the army of Islam will not register any victories soon, and due to the fact that the Islamic Republic’s devoted military and political officers do not see the continuation of the war in the country’s best interests, and state clearly that in no way and at no price is it possible to acquire one-tenth of the weapons that Western and Eastern imperialists have provided for Saddam, and in light of the moving letter of the commander of the Revolutionary Guards [Mohsin Rezai], which is one among dozens of military-political reports I have received after the recent defeats, and based on the admissions of the commander of the war effort, is authored by one of few officers who believes that the fight should continue should we acquire the required necessities, and due to the enemy’s use of chemical weapons and the lack of deterrence, I agree to the planned ceasefire and will refer to some points mentioned in the 6/23/88 letter from the commander of the Revolutionary Guards to clarify my reasons for this decision.“The aforementioned commander writes in his letter: that we will not register any victories in the next five years; that it is possible that, with the weapons we might acquire in the next five years, we will be able to launch offensive or retaliatory operations; that by the end of 1992, if we have 350 divisions, 2500 tanks, 300 jet fighters, 300 helicopters, and if we are able to produce considerable quantities of laser or atomic weapons, which will be necessary for the conducting of war at that time, we can, god willing, launch offensive operations.

“He says that the Revolutionary Guards must grow seven fold, and the army must expand by two-and-a-half times its current size. He also says that we need to expel the United States out of the Persian Gulf, or else we will not be successful. The aforementioned commanded also claims that the most important component of his plans is access to new funding and equipment. It is highly unlikely that the government and office of the commander in chief are able to provide what he requires. But he still contends that we should keep on fighting; and this is no more than a slogan.”