Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Who is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani?

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is an influential Iranian politician and writer, who was the fourth president of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until his resignation in 2011. He is chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran.

During the Iran–Iraq War Rafsanjani was the de facto commander-in-chief of the Iranian military. Rafsanjani was elected chairman of the Iranian parliament in 1980 and served until 1989. Rafsanjani also served as president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. He played an important role in the choice of Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader. In 2005 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 round of the 2005 election.

Rafsanjani has been described as a centrist and a pragmatic conservative. He supports a 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.

In 1997 during the Mykonos trial in Germany, it was declared that Hashemi Rafsanjani alongside of Ayatollah Ali Khameni, Ali-Akbar Velayati and Ali Fallahian has had role in assassination of Iran's opposition activists in Europe. He is considered to be the richest person in Iran.