Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Reformists like onetime president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani are gradually being pushed out of the political arena.

It's Time to Bypass Iran's 'Supreme Leader' Mehdi Khalaji 2012

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani lost his position on Tuesday as head of an important state clerical body after being criticised by hardliners for being too close to the reformist opposition.

Rafsanjani leaves 2011

Meanwhile, powerful clerics such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani and many others who are established, influential and can unify other clerics have chosen to remain quiet and uninvolved.

Camelia Entekhabi-Fard: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi: The Two Forgotten Men Camelia Entekhabi-Fard 2011

Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Chairman of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, worked doggedly in 2009 to rebuild the coalition of the three major Iraqi Shiite parties that had run in 2005 as a bloc.

Iran Has Designs on Iraq Kimberly Kagan And Frederick W. Kagan 2010

Aghazadeh is thought to be close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, the Iranian opposition leader who claimed the results of last month\'s presidential elections were rigged, as well as an ally of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who backed Mousavi. '

OpEdNews - Quicklink: Iran's nuclear agency chief resigns 2009

Aghazadeh is thought to be close to Mir Hossein Mousavi, the Iranian opposition leader who claimed the results of last month's presidential elections were rigged, as well as an ally of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who backed Mousavi.

OpEdNews - Quicklink: Iran's nuclear agency chief resigns 2009

Khamenei did not mention any names, but the comments reported on state radio were clearly directed at Mir Hossein Mousavi, the pro-reform candidate who claims to have won the election, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful cleric who on Friday criticized the leadership over the elections in a clear challenge to Khamenei.

Nosheen Abbas: Urban Pak Youth Meet With Their Swat Counterparts To Work Towards Change 2009

In that regard, Bhadrakumar writes that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei won a resounding victory in this election and that the grey cardinal of Iranian politics Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was dealt a crushing defeat.

UnMasking The Iranian Power Play 2009

It is important to bear in mind that Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karroubi, Mohammad Khatami, and even the usually conservative Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani are the symbolic standard-bearers of change.

Jamsheed K. Choksy: Iran, Protest, and Intelligence: Why Strategic Reports Often Get it Wrong 2009

But another, even more noteworthy player, is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and the chairman of the Assembly of Experts that elects the Supreme Leader.

Stuart Whatley: Iran Uprising: Experts Weigh In On What's Happened And What It Means 2009