Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...RAFSANJANI We don't want to give the playing ground to the extremist elements. Those who persuaded me believed that a moderating current in charge in the country could improve our relations with the world. I believed in their logic...
...With the reformists sidelined, the more important political cleavage now is between hardliners and pragmatists within conservative ranks. Khameini is said to disapprove of the policies of leading pragmatist candidate Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former speaker of parliament who might have drawn "lesser-evil" backing from reformist voters if they lacked a candidate of their own. Allowing the reformists to run potentially splits Rafsanjani's vote, improving the chances of hard-liners. Even if the reformers win, the Khatami years have proven that the clerical bodies controlled by the conservatives trump the power of the presidency. The Supreme Leader is also...
Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani decided to "swallow the bitter pill," as he put it, and become a candidate in Iran's presidential vote scheduled for June 17. "The Commander of Construction," as supporters call him because his policies kick-started the devastated Iranian economy after the Iran-Iraq war, ended months of speculation by publishing a manifesto; it promises to rein in extremism within the country, attract international confidence, support gender equality and spur economic growth. The wily Rafsanjani, 70, is seen as a consensus builder, giving him an advantage over other top candidates such as former...
...Americans attack Iran, the world will change ... They will not dare to make such a mistake." AKBAR HASHEMI RAFSANJANI, former Iranian President, describing his country's missile capabilities to a conference on national security in Tehran...
These were whiffs of change rather than full-blown breakthroughs, and there were those who discounted their import. The North Koreans had succumbed, it was said, only because of pressure from China and some folding by the U.S. on who should be at the table. Skeptics insisted that Rafsanjani was just playing local politics; he was hoping to reinvigorate his flagging, centrist political party for next year's parliamentary elections by appealing to Iran's pro-American, pro-reform majority. But make no mistake: none of this would be happening were it not for George W. Bush. He invented...