Akbar Rafsanjani
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.
"Rafsanjani" redirects here. For the surname, see Rafsanjani (surname).
Akbar Rafsanjani
Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Mehdi Karroubi
2,301,492 (5th term)
1,891,264 (81.9%; 2nd term)
Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani
8 January 2017 (aged 82)
Tajrish, Shemiranat County, Iran
- Islamic Republican Party (1979–1987)
- Combatant Clergy Association (1987–1996)
Official website (in Persian)
Second-in-command, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Order of Fath (1st grade)[1]
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]
Early life and education[edit]
Rafsanjani was born on 25 August 1934 in the village of Bahraman near the city of Rafsanjan in Kerman Province, to a wealthy family of pistachio farmers.[7][8] He had seven siblings.[9] His father, Mirza Ali Hashemi Behramani, was a pistachio merchant, one of Kerman's famous businessmen. His mother, Hajie Khanom Mahbibi Hashemi, died at the age of 90 on 21 December 1995.[10] One of his brothers, Mohammad Hashemi, is the former director of IRIB.[11] From childhood onward Rafsanjani did not see himself as a peasant, according to family members.[12]
He left at the age of 14 to study theology in Qom. There he became acquainted with the ideas of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the most senior dissident cleric who later became the founder of the Islamic Republic, on the political rule of the clergy. He studied theology.[13] His other teachers were Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari, Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi, Shahab al-Din Mar'ashi Najafi, Nematollah Salehi Najafabadi, Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i, and Hussein-Ali Montazeri.[14]
Political career[edit]
Pre-Revolution struggles[edit]
When he was studying at Qom Seminary, he became interested in politics under Ruhollah Khomeini. He was one of the opposers of Mohammad Reza Shah's White Revolution and accompanied Khomeini. With Khomeini's exile, Hashemi's role in the fight against the Shah and representing Khomeini in the country was highlighted. This opposition eventually led to his arrest and imprisonment. He was arrested 7 times from 1960 until 1979 and was in jail for four years and 5 months in total due to his clandestine activities against the Pahlavi regime. Khomeini made him the financial manager of the revolutionary struggle as well as the bridge with other revolutionary groups.[15]
Among the groups that had a deep bond with Hashemi, was the Islamic Coalition Party, which is known as responsible for the assassination of former Prime Minister Hassan Ali Mansur. This communication was another reason for his arrest. In prison, he found the opportunity to become familiar with other groups opposed to the Shah.
In the mid-1970s, Rafsanjani travelled to various countries to evaluate the position of anti-Shah resistance groups abroad, including the United States, where his brother Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani was studying.[16] Rafsanjani travelled across sixteen states during his two-week stay, where his brother showed him locations such as Hollywood, the Statue of Liberty, and Yosemite National Park. According to Rafsanjani's brother, a bear broke into their car at Yosemite after they ignored a sign warning visitors not to keep food in their car. Rafsanjani had previously been to the West, visiting several European countries with his wife and children. He made a habit of taking notes about these developed countries to study their living conditions, industry, and resources, in a desire to replicate the same prosperity in his home country.[17] Upon his return to Iran, Rafsanjani was arrested by SAVAK and remained in prison until the victory of the Iranian revolution.
After the revolution[edit]
After the victory of Iranian Revolution, Rafsanjani became one of the members of Council of Islamic Revolution. He was one of the powerful members of the council from its establishment. He was also deputy interior minister at that time and later became the acting interior minister.
He was one of the 28 founders of Traditional right-wing Combatant Clergy Association and also one of the members of the central committee of Islamic Republican Party at the first years of the revolution. Years later, it was he who requested IRP's dissolution. His political acumen and Khomeini's full trust helped Rafsanjani as one of the most powerful politicians in Iran at that time. At the time, he was the closest person to the Khomeini and ruled as his "eyes and ears". According to the Gold, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was established with the help of Rafsanjani.
During the Iranian hostage crisis in 1980, Rafsanjani mentioned it as "one of the largest manufacturer in the history". However, on the tenth anniversary of the revolution, he said in an interview that according to the experiences of these years, the hostage was "wrong".
Rafsanjani served as one of the Tehran's Friday Prayer Imams (for next thirty years), Representative of Khomeini at Defense High Council (after death of Mostafa Chamran) and Second-in-Command of Iran's Joint Chiefs of Staff in the last year of Iran–Iraq War. He forced Khomeini to accept to end the war. Only three months after his appointment as Iran's deputy commander-in-chief, Iran accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 and eight-year war was ended.[18]
Views[edit]
Political parties[edit]
Before Iranian Revolution, Rafsanjani was active in the anti-Shah activities and reportedly associated with the Islamic Coalition's shura-ye ruhaniyat (lit. 'Council of the
Clergy')[93] and the People's Mujahidin.[94]
Although Rafsanjani was a member of the pragmatic-conservative Combatant Clergy Association, he had a close bond to the Executives of Construction Party and Moderation and Development Party.[95] In 2009, Rafsanjani ceased activity in the Combatant Clergy Association, despite remaining a member.[96][97]
He was regarded as flip-flopping between conservative and reformist camps since the election of Mohammad Khatami, supporting reformers in that election, but going back to the conservative camp in the 2000 parliamentary elections as a result of the reformist party severely criticizing and refusing to accept him as their candidate. Reformists, including Akbar Ganji, accused him of involvement in murdering dissidents and writers during his presidency. In the end, the major differences between the Kargozaran and the reformists party weakened both and eventually resulted in their loss at the presidential elections in 2005. However, Rafsanjani regained close ties with the reformers since he lost the 2005 presidential elections to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.[28]
In addition, the full text of his Friday Prayer sermons and his congress keynote speeches are also published separately.[113] Based on his diary, viewpoints, speeches and interviews, several independent books have been published so far.
The book in fact considered as a key to the subjects and concepts of Quran. The book has been written by Rafsanjani and several other scholars.[114]
Reception and legacy[edit]
Although he was a close follower of Ayatollah Khomeini and considered as a central elite during Islamic revolution, at the same time he was fan of reconstruction of shattered country after war and according to this fact, he selected his cabinets from western-educated technocrats and social reformers. His cabinet largely was a reformist one. Rafsanjani acquired both the support of Imam Khomeini in one hand and Majlis in other hand. In fact, he tried to transfer the economy towards the free-market system. There was a gap among Rafsanjani and Khatami and reform agenda because of his partnership with those who were conservative. The first face of reformist movements began by Rafsanjani.[115] His powerful role and control over Iranian politics earned him the name "Akbar Shah".[116][117]
Official
Other