The Jan. 8 death of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani could change the balance at the top of Iran’s political establishment. Rafsanjani, who had a great influence on the Reformists and also on a large part of the conservative camp, had become an independent and moderate politician opposed to the hard-liners in recent years.

Prior to his humiliating defeat in the presidential race against hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 elections, Rafsanjani had been seen as a conservative. But after the 2005 vote, he started keeping his distance from conservatives, so that during the protests that followed Ahmadinejad’s re-election in 2009, he sided with the protesters and became a popular figure among the Reformists.

At his last appearance as Tehran Friday prayers leader on July 17, 2009, while the protests were ongoing, the influential ayatollah did not condemn the protests, brought up “problems” he believed had taken place during the voting process and called for restoring the people’s trust. This was met with harsh criticism from conservatives, who did all they could to stop him. He was ultimately barred from entering the 2013 presidential race, while losing out to rival Mohammad Yazdi in the competition over the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts. Yet his political influence persisted. He played an important role in limiting the power of the hard-liners, chiefly by convincing the Reformists to support Hassan Rouhani in the 2013 elections, while maneuvering to prevent the conservatives from uniting behind a single candidate.

Of the current figures on Iran’s political stage, parliament Speaker Ali Larijani is the one person who is the most similar to Rafsanjani — and especially when it comes to stopping the hard-liners. Although he is not as influential as Rafsanjani among the Reformists, his moderate approach — in comparison with other conservatives — has already won Reformists' respect.