Word: hashemi
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Hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, 52. Widely regarded as the second most powerful man in Iran, after Khomeini, Rafsanjani is a sharp-witted and clever politician. His power base is his position as Speaker of the mullah- dominated Majlis, or parliament, but he also has close ties to Khomeini and to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guards. Though his title of hojatoleslam is just one rank below ayatullah, Rafsanjani is no Islamic zealot. On most national issues he is said to have recently become a pragmatist, willing, for instance, to open doors to the West and to compromise in order...
...Hashemi's supporters were quoted by Al-Shiraa as saying Iranian officials demanded in the talks with McFarlane that the United States halt military, financial and political aid to Iraq, which has been at war with Iran for six years...
Iran also demanded spare parts for U.S.-made warplanes, tanks and other hardware, the weekly said. It quoted Hashemi's supporters as saying the United States provided the spare parts, and that the supplies helped boost the performance of Iran's air force...
...Shiraa also said Rafsanjani's supporters claim Hashemi was responsible for smuggling weapons into Saudi Arabia aboard an Iranian airliner carrying pilgrims to Mecca earlier this year. The same sources accused Hashemi of engineering the kidnapping of Syrian Consul Iyad Mahmoud in Tehran last month...
...Arab diplomat said Hashemi had been angry at Syria for pressuring Iran to free hostages. However, the kidnapping of the Syrian envoy only increased the pressure because Iran was embarrassed by the exposure of its ties to the kidnappers...