Akbar Rafsanjani: A Pragmatist Familiar with Power, Wealth, and the Color of Blood

The death of a man who aspired to be the Amir Kabir of the Islamic Revolution but settled for being the "Sardar of Construction" in a government filled with "Sardars" provides an opportunity to reassess his background and essence, which undoubtedly occupies a significant chapter in contemporary Iranian history. Akbar Rafsanjani's political life recalls a play titled "A Man for All Seasons," written by Robert Bolt, which is based on the later years of the politically disastrous life of Thomas More, the 16th-century Lord Chancellor of England. In 1966, the renowned American (Australian) director Fred Zinnemann made a lasting film of the same name. The active political life of Thomas More, who was greatly loved by his family and respected by his supporters, ended tragically during a time of the church's peak discredit, following a confrontation with Henry VIII, the autocratic king of England and his former ally. Thomas More was a "tragic hero," and Rafsanjani could rightfully claim this title as well. In the Persian translation of the mentioned play, published a few years ago in Tehran, Thomas More is quoted as saying to his daughter: "If we lived in a country where virtue was beneficial, common sense would compel us to be good, and greed would make us appear saintly; then our days would be like animals or angels living in a happy land, free from any 'heroes.'" The difference between Rafsanjani and Thomas More was that the Iranian counterpart, unlike the English example, never stood against the lawlessness and disregard of the government when he had power and authority; rather, he played a significant role in exacerbating transgressions. Thomas More did not abandon conscience, honor, humanity, and ethics; he did not deny others' rights to freedom of thought, to live without fear, to have or not have a religion, and he did not climb the ladder of power by trampling on his own public rights. In Rafsanjani's view and behavior, every unclean means was made clean and justifiable in the pursuit of his goals. Foreign observers, with limited knowledge of him, liken Rafsanjani to Niccolò Machiavelli, the 15th-century Italian diplomat who believed in the absence of political ethics, duplicity, and conspiracy in state management, which are applicable comparisons to Hashemi's thoughts and behaviors, with the difference that Machiavelli was a thoughtful conspirator, while Rafsanjani was a disciple who applied his master's recommendations and made his school of thought his political religion, remaining faithful to it until the end. Power reached Hashemi and not the other way around. Georges Pompidou, the president at the end of the 1960s in France, who remained in the Élysée Palace until 1974, said: being "in the right place at the right time" is always of particular importance. Hashemi found himself in the right place at the right time and, due to unexpected victories and successes, gained attributes that were not typical for him under normal circumstances. During the revolution, Akbar Hashemi was close to Ruhollah Khomeini, and his clerical background with the man who founded the Islamic government in Iran was effective in bringing him to power. Khomeini, with a rural spirit, was like a village chief who preferred villagers over city dwellers and trusted those who spoke his language more. Hossein Ali Montazeri is another example who became Khomeini's deputy with rural behavior and speech. Undoubtedly, Khomeini's confidence and affection were more directed towards someone with Rafsanjani's characteristics than towards Ali Khamenei, who was articulate, spoke from books, and was considered a "fake cleric". It was by seizing this opportunity and being in the right place that Rafsanjani rose to power during a time of scarcity of Khomeini's trusted allies, and as long as the main source of power was alive, he used his personal closeness and relationship with him to solidify his personal power. Rafsanjani's power began to decline immediately after his presidency ended, while at the same time, Ali Khamenei solidified his political positions, eliminating rivals and becoming an unchallenged leader - at least as far as the stage's arrangement could present. Hashemi had a good understanding of money since his adolescence, and instead of limiting his mind within the circle of religion, he became a businessman, bought pistachio orchards, and generously opened up transactions for his relatives. Although Rafsanjani became a politician, he was certainly not a philosopher; nevertheless, in his later years, he raised a controversial issue for which he was accused by Khamenei of being suspicious of treason or foolishness, while the essence of Hashemi's words emphasized the superiority of the value of discourse (bargaining and negotiation) over missiles (war), which underscores a change in the concept of power in today's world. Hashemi, whom some internal organizational claimants of "reform" introduce as their spiritual father, was never a reformist. Hashemi's political life began with his role as a logistics officer in the assassination of Hassan Mansour and accepting responsibility for providing weapons for the Fedayeen Islam and Mohammad Bokharaei, while he personally lacked the courage to participate in the assassination of the then-prime minister. After the Islamic government came to power, when Hashemi was in Khomeini's small circle of closest allies, two phases of mass executions of political prisoners (in the 1980s) took place, during which thousands were sent to execution squads and gallows. During Rafsanjani's presidency and under the management of his Minister of Intelligence Ali Fallahian, serial murders were designed and executed, execution squads were sent abroad to kill opponents, and from Farokhzad to Sharafkandi, they lost their lives at the hands of government agents. Some foreign observers commend Rafsanjani for mediating the release of hostages in Beirut, forgetting that he was wanted by Interpol for his involvement in the terrorist bombing of a Jewish community center in Argentina's capital (AMIA) in the summer of 1994. Rafsanjani was a pragmatic cleric, a deal-maker, indifferent to individual rights and social freedoms, with little knowledge of politics, and extensive awareness of undisclosed interactions that still constitute the secrets of the Islamic Revolution and how it came to power in Iran.