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Is Ahmadinejad Facing a Final Showdown with Rafsanjani?

As Iranian President Ahmadinejad loses influence and the support of the ruling elite, his arch-enemy, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, may be due for a political comeback. Shahir Shahidsaless writes that the "comfortable and confident" former president offers solutions to Iran's crisis, and may well have won the support of the Supreme Leader.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani attends Iran's Assembly of Experts' biannual meeting in Tehran March 8, 2011. Rafsanjani lost his position on Tuesday as head of an important state clerical body after hardliners criticised him for being too close to the reformist opposition.   REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi (IRAN - Tags: POLITICS)

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (known as both Hashemi and Rafsanjani) is one of the founders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Rafsanjani, ex-chairman of the Iranian Parliament and the president of Iran from 1989 to 1997, currently heads the Expediency Council, which acts as the advising body to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei. The Expediency Council also mediates between the parliament and the Guardian Council that vets all legislation. Known as a pragmatic politician, Rafsanjani was one of the most influential political figures in Iran for 26 years.

However, in 2005 Rafsanjani’s star began to wane. During that year’s presidential elections, Rafsanjani competed against Ahmadinejad through the second round. Ahmadinejad, supported by religious conservatives and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), won the election. Subsequently, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, then-deputy commander of the IRGC, maintained that Ahmadinejad’s victory actualized thanks to a “multi-layer and complicated” plan.

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