Shaking hands with the Puppet Master
According to the American business magazine Forbes, he is the one of the richest people in the world. He has more or less run the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past 30 years. Khomeini’s right hand, pragmatic, ideological, father of Iran’s privatization program and last but not least the grey eminence. These criteria belong to the man most adept at manipulating the hidden power structure of Iran, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. During the last 30 years he has played a crucial role in Iran’s political arena. Key member of Iran’s Revolutionary Council, speaker of the parliament (1980-89), commander-in-chief of the arm forces (1980-88, during the war with Iraq). He was seen as the main mover behind Iran’s acceptance of the UN Security Council resolution which ended the war. He was the president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. In 2002, Rafsanjani was appointed and currently is the Chairman of the Expediency Council that arbitrates and resolves legislative disputes between the Parliament and the Council of Guardians.
Interestingly, in 2002, in the first Parliamentary General Election after the termination of his two presidential terms, he stood for the Parliament seat. He did not succeed to be among the 30 representatives of Tehran. However, The Council of Guardians then ruled numerous ballots “void” and was able to get him chosen as the 30th representative. Nevertheless, he resigned before swearing-in as an MP with the intention of being able to serve the people better in other posts which conveniently appeared as the Chairman of the Expediency Council which make the final decision about the disputed bills from the parliament.
Rafsanjani’s reputation was tinted by so many issues during his political career; the 1998 murders of dissident authors known as the Chain Murders of Iran, his failure to differentiate between privatization and the corrupt takeover of government-owned companies, his deep involvement in various Iranian industries, including the oil industry. There have also been allegations that some of his wealth has come from arms deals made after the revolution.
Rafsanjani family also own vast financial empires in Iran, including foreign trade, vast landholdings and the largest network of private universities in Iran which are known as Azad and these have 300 campuses spread all over the country. They do not only have large financial resources but also an active cadre of student activists numbering around 3 million.
Having said all that, Rafsanjani has had a track record of handling difficult situations and managing crisises. His approach of dealing with delicate political crisises is very subtle. Giving the present situation in Iran, he had expressed his resentment toward Ahmadinejad’s remarks (accusing him and his family of corruption) in an open letter to the supreme leader. He was the prominent supporter of Mousavi, the main challenger of Ahmadinejad. In the post election time and in amid of the demonstrations and the crack down on the protestors, however, he kept a very ominous silence and left the door open for assumptions and speculations about his opinion of the whole situation. He preferred unlike to his old comrade, the supreme leader, to weigh up the situation first and remained above the fray. After days of waiting he made the delicate statement with the well chosen vocabulary. He expressed his concerns about the future of the regime and the system’s long-term interests and advised everyone to find a rational and logical way to solve the disagreements. He hoped with good management and wisdom the issues would be settled. He also expressed his sympathy towards the families of the detainees during the demonstrations. Once more he proved that he is the man of negotiation not the man of principals. The recent event reminds everyone of May 1999; the time that the mayor of Tehran, Gholmhossein Karbaschi appointed and backed by Rafsanjani was unjustly accused of corruption and misuse of funds and began serving a two-year sentence in prison and 10 years suspension of any official post. Rafsanjani was no longer his supporter and rather not to mention his name under any circumstances anymore.
The main question is in the end, who is Hashemi Rafsanjani? What if anything defines him? What is it that makes him so distinguishable from the other clerics? His judgment, his principals and his moral values have always been subject to change. Given the right “price” everything about him is hostage to circumstance. Those people, who hoped he would come to the rescue, now, should ask themselves if there is anything about him which can not be compromised.
Once again the puppet master pulled the strings in order to control what went on beneath him. He used actions in addition to thoughtfully assembled words as his weapons in order to exploit his victims. What he has gained from this battle remains to be seen.
Shahin M
According to the American business magazine Forbes, he is the one of the richest people in the world. He has more or less run the Islamic Republic of Iran for the past 30 years. Khomeini’s right hand, pragmatic, ideological, father of Iran’s privatization program and last but not least the grey eminence. These criteria belong to the man most adept at manipulating the hidden power structure of Iran, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. During the last 30 years he has played a crucial role in Iran’s political arena. Key member of Iran’s Revolutionary Council, speaker of the parliament (1980-89), commander-in-chief of the arm forces (1980-88, during the war with Iraq). He was seen as the main mover behind Iran’s acceptance of the UN Security Council resolution which ended the war. He was the president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. In 2002, Rafsanjani was appointed and currently is the Chairman of the Expediency Council that arbitrates and resolves legislative disputes between the Parliament and the Council of Guardians.
Interestingly, in 2002, in the first Parliamentary General Election after the termination of his two presidential terms, he stood for the Parliament seat. He did not succeed to be among the 30 representatives of Tehran. However, The Council of Guardians then ruled numerous ballots “void” and was able to get him chosen as the 30th representative. Nevertheless, he resigned before swearing-in as an MP with the intention of being able to serve the people better in other posts which conveniently appeared as the Chairman of the Expediency Council which make the final decision about the disputed bills from the parliament.
Rafsanjani’s reputation was tinted by so many issues during his political career; the 1998 murders of dissident authors known as the Chain Murders of Iran, his failure to differentiate between privatization and the corrupt takeover of government-owned companies, his deep involvement in various Iranian industries, including the oil industry. There have also been allegations that some of his wealth has come from arms deals made after the revolution.
Rafsanjani family also own vast financial empires in Iran, including foreign trade, vast landholdings and the largest network of private universities in Iran which are known as Azad and these have 300 campuses spread all over the country. They do not only have large financial resources but also an active cadre of student activists numbering around 3 million.
Having said all that, Rafsanjani has had a track record of handling difficult situations and managing crisises. His approach of dealing with delicate political crisises is very subtle. Giving the present situation in Iran, he had expressed his resentment toward Ahmadinejad’s remarks (accusing him and his family of corruption) in an open letter to the supreme leader. He was the prominent supporter of Mousavi, the main challenger of Ahmadinejad. In the post election time and in amid of the demonstrations and the crack down on the protestors, however, he kept a very ominous silence and left the door open for assumptions and speculations about his opinion of the whole situation. He preferred unlike to his old comrade, the supreme leader, to weigh up the situation first and remained above the fray. After days of waiting he made the delicate statement with the well chosen vocabulary. He expressed his concerns about the future of the regime and the system’s long-term interests and advised everyone to find a rational and logical way to solve the disagreements. He hoped with good management and wisdom the issues would be settled. He also expressed his sympathy towards the families of the detainees during the demonstrations. Once more he proved that he is the man of negotiation not the man of principals. The recent event reminds everyone of May 1999; the time that the mayor of Tehran, Gholmhossein Karbaschi appointed and backed by Rafsanjani was unjustly accused of corruption and misuse of funds and began serving a two-year sentence in prison and 10 years suspension of any official post. Rafsanjani was no longer his supporter and rather not to mention his name under any circumstances anymore.
The main question is in the end, who is Hashemi Rafsanjani? What if anything defines him? What is it that makes him so distinguishable from the other clerics? His judgment, his principals and his moral values have always been subject to change. Given the right “price” everything about him is hostage to circumstance. Those people, who hoped he would come to the rescue, now, should ask themselves if there is anything about him which can not be compromised.
Once again the puppet master pulled the strings in order to control what went on beneath him. He used actions in addition to thoughtfully assembled words as his weapons in order to exploit his victims. What he has gained from this battle remains to be seen.
Shahin M
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