Rafsanjani: shark or kingmaker?
Guardian / Simon Tisdall
16-Jun-2009 (one comment)

The man accused by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of masterminding the opposition campaign to oust him from the presidency has dropped out of view since election day. But Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani remains a formidable figure in Iranian politics with a network of well-placed allies straddling the reformist and moderate conservative camps. If any one leader is able to force a re-run of last Friday's disputed poll, it may be the two-term former president nicknamed the "shark".Rafsanjani was last heard from in public as he cast his vote on Friday. According to the Iranian Students News Agency, he called for a "clean" poll and said a big turnout (favouring the reformists) would boost Iran's regional and international image. Following the ensuing storm over Ahmadinejad's apparent victory, al-Arabiya television reported Rafsanjani had resigned as chairman of the Assembly of Experts and of the Expediency Council, two key government bodies. This report remains unconfirmed.

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Ali Lakani

Rafsanjani to the rescue?!

by Ali Lakani on

As much as I hate to admit it, I'd have to agree that Rafsanjani might be the only person who can pull the different groups together for a resolution.  Love him or hate him, the man's long standing involvement with the IRI political landscape gives him a unique position which he might be able to use with Khamenehi, Sepah, and the reformists.  If anyone can put pressure on the mullahs to nullify these elections it would be him, cashing in his favors and using his little black (-mail) book of IRI rulers' untold stories.


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