Raised on a pistachio farm, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (born 1934) rose to become the most important political leader in revolutionary Iran. Known as a shrewd survivor, Iran's "smiling powerbroker" worked towards building a "kinder, gentler" Iran. Akbar...

(born 1934, Rafsanjān, Iran) Iranian cleric and politician, who was president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. Rafsanjani was the son of a prosperous farmer in the town of Rafsanjān, in the Kermān region of Iran. He moved to the...

Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Persian: اکبر هاشمی رفسنجانی Akbar Hāshemī Rafanjānī), Hashemi Bahramani (هاشمی بهرمانی) born on August 25, 1934, is an influential Iranian politician, and in September 2007 was...

Rafsanjani's No Moderate Ayatollah Khomeini's grave, adorned with a gigantic gold dome, has become a shrine for pilgrims, while the inheritors of his rule are hard at work detaching themselves from his messianic bequest. Over the past six months this delicate task...

Iran's Smiling Powerbroker IN 1962 an Iranian seminary studentin Qom signed a petition demanding freedom for Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who had been arrested after delivering a seething speech against the Shah. The young man would reflect: "Khomeini was in the vanguard and...

Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned Western countries Sunday that their strategy of pressuring Iran to roll back its nuclear program by imposing sanctions will backfire.Rafsanjani, who heads the influential Expediency Council, also said that Iran was willing to work with international organizations to resolve...

A former Iranian nuclear negotiator who reportedly faces espionage charges was released on bail Wednesday, state television said.Hossein Mousavian was part of Iran's nuclear negotiating team under former President Mohammad Khatami, the reformist predecessor of the current hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Mousavian also is seen...