Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Persian: ‌اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی‎, Akbar Hāshemī Rafsanjānī, Hashemi Bahramani هاشمی بهرمانی, born 25 August 1934) 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. Currently, 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. Charismatic, he had a gift to simplify complex tactics and was an ingenious and pragmatic commander.

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. 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.

He is considered to be the richest person in Iran.