Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was one of the founding figures of the Islamic Republic, a close ally of Ayatollah Khomeini during the 1979 revolution, and Iran's fourth president from 1989 to 1997. After leaving the presidency he chaired the Expediency Discernment Council until his death on 8 January 2017, aged 82. He represented the pragmatist wing within Iran's clerical establishment and advocated economic liberalisation and cautious engagement with the West, putting him at odds with hardliners throughout his later career.

Rafsanjani's most enduring domestic legacy is the Islamic Azad University system, which he championed as a vehicle for mass higher education. The network grew to several hundred branches across Iran and became one of the country's largest educational institutions, with its UAE branch among the Iranian institutions closed by Emirati authorities in March 2026 .

His death in 2017 removed the most influential moderate voice capable of bridging factional divides within the Islamic Republic. The subsequent consolidation of IRGC power and the hardliner dominance visible in the 2026 conflict reflect the widening gap his absence created. Western diplomats at the time of his death regarded him as the last pragmatist with genuine authority within the system; no equivalent figure has emerged.