Akbar Rafsanjani

Akbar Rafsanjani
اکبر رفسنجانی
Undated portrait of Rafsanjani
4th President of Iran
In office
16 August 1989 – 3 August 1997
Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei
First Vice President
Hassan Habibi
Preceded byAli Khamenei
Succeeded byMohammad Khatami
Chairman of Expediency Discernment Council
In office
4 October 1989 – 8 January 2017
Appointed byAli Khamenei
Preceded byAli Khamenei
Succeeded byMahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Chairman of the Assembly of Experts
In office
25 July 2007 – 8 March 2011
Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei
Preceded byAli Meshkini
Succeeded byMohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani
18th Speaker of the Parliament of Iran
In office
28 July 1980 – 3 August 1989
First Deputy
Preceded byJavad Saeed
Succeeded byMehdi Karroubi
Member of the Assembly of Experts
In office
15 August 1983 – 8 January 2017
ConstituencyTehran Province
Majority2,301,492 (5th term)
Tehran's Friday Prayer Temporary Imam
In office
3 July 1981 – 17 July 2009
Appointed byRuhollah Khomeini
Member of the Parliament of Iran
In office
28 May 1980 – 3 August 1989
ConstituencyTehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
Majority1,891,264 (81.9%; 2nd term)
Minister of Interior
Acting
17 November 1979 – 27 February 1980
Appointed byIslamic Revolution Council
Preceded byHashem Sabbaghian
Succeeded byMohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani
Personal details
Born
Ali Akbar Hashimi Bahramani Rafsanjani

(1934-08-25)25 August 1934
Bahreman, Imperial State of Persia
Died8 January 2017(2017-01-08) (aged 82)
Tajrish, Shemiranat County, Iran
Resting placeMausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini
Political partyExecutives of Construction
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
(m. 1958)
Children
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website (in Persian)
Military service
AllegianceIran
CommandsSecond-in-command, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Battles/warsIran–Iraq War
AwardsOrder of Fath (1st grade)[1]

Ali Akbar Hashimi Bahramani Rafsanjani[a] (25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian politician and writer who served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic, Rafsanjani was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011 when he decided not to nominate himself for the post. He was also the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council.

During his 40-year tenure, Rafsanjani amassed a large amount of power serving as the speaker of parliament, Commander-in-Chief during the Iran–Iraq War, President, and chose Ali Khamenei as the supreme leader of Iran.

Rafsanjani became president of Iran after winning the 1989 election. He served another term by winning the election in 1993. In the 2005 election he ran for a third term in office, placing first in the first round of elections but ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the run-off. He and his family faced political isolation for their support of the opposition in 2009. Rafsanjani entered the race for the 2013 presidential election,[2] but he was disqualified by the Guardian Council. With Hassan Rouhani's election, in which Rafsanjani openly supported him, the Rafsanjani family gradually recovered their political reputation. Rafsanjani died in 2017, following a heart attack, in a hospital in Tehran at the age of 82. Although government officials attributed his death to cardiac arrest, his sudden death prompted speculation that he had been assassinated. His family strongly asserted that he had been murdered. Further investigation revealed that his body was highly radioactive.[3]

Rafsanjani has been described as a pragmatic Islamic conservative. The Economist called him a "veteran kingmaker".[4] He supported a capitalist free market position domestically, favoring privatization of state-owned industries and a moderate position internationally, seeking to avoid conflict with the United States and the West.[5] He was also the founder of, and one of the Board of Trustees of, Azad University. In 2003, Forbes estimated his personal wealth to be in excess of US$1 billion.[6]

  1. ^ Poursafa, Mahdi (20 January 2014). گزارش فارس از تاریخچه نشان‌های نظامی ایران، از «اقدس» تا «فتح»؛ مدال‌هایی که بر سینه سرداران ایرانی نشسته است [From "Aghdas" to "Fath": Medals resting on the chest of Iranian Serdars] (in Persian). Fars News. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  2. ^ "Iran's Rafsanjani Registers for presidential race". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 11 June 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  3. ^ Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (9 January 2018). "Iran reopens investigation into Rafsanjani death". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Iranian politics after the nuclear deal". The Economist. 28 May 2016. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  5. ^ RK Ramazani, Revolutionary Iran: Challenge and Response in the Middle East, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.
  6. ^ "Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ex-President of Iran, Dies at 82". The New York Times. 8 January 2017.


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