Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Events in Iran are often fueled by forces that are not immediately apparent. Thus it was difficult to know quite what to make of the verbal missile fired last week by parliament Speaker Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani during a prayer session at Tehran University. Several "big American spies," he announced, had been arrested and would be punished for plotting to overthrow Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini...
Although he did not name names, Rafsanjani said some of those detained were Iranian navy personnel who aided the U.S. when it was patrolling the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war. He cited an incident in September 1987, when U.S. forces attacked and boarded the Iran Ajr as the ship was laying mines...
...really know what they're talking about," said White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater. Said former CIA Director Richard Helms, Ambassador to Iran from 1973 to 1976: "If it's true, it's a shame they got caught." At the Brookings Institution, Middle East specialist Yahya Sadowski speculated that Rafsanjani might be using the cry of spies as a way to divert attention from his own political problems...
...were these unnamed liberals in addition to Khamenei? One was certainly parliamentary Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani, who has hinted that Iran should have ended the war in 1982, after driving the invading Iraqis out of its territory. Within days, he too chimed in with an attack on the West. "We know what our duty is regarding those who are a partner in cursing the Prophet," declared Rafsanjani. "The ground has been laid for a vast battle between Islam on the one hand, and paganism and arrogance on the other." But he tried to forestall stronger reprisals from Europe in case anything...
...weeks the captors have been hinting that this time they just might be more reasonable. Since agreeing to a cease-fire in its war with Iraq, Tehran has been putting out feelers about ending its diplomatic isolation and obtaining Western help to rebuild its devastated economy. Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful speaker of the Majlis (parliament), has shown signs of recognizing that holding on to the hostages works against both goals...