Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...cease-fire would postpone a cutback of U.S. naval forces escorting oil tankers in the Persian Gulf. The Reagan Administration would also be forced to defer its efforts to forge a new relationship with Iran after a hiatus of nearly a decade. Last week Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, speaker of Iran's parliament, raised that prospect and a good deal more: the possibility of securing Iran's help in gaining the release of nine American hostages believed held by pro-Iranian factions in Lebanon...
...tied his offer to a long-held Iranian goal: getting possession of assets, including $400 million worth of armaments, impounded by Washington when relations were severed in 1980. "Let them ((U.S. officials)) take a nonhostile pose by releasing our assets," said Rafsanjani. "If so, we will use our influence in Lebanon." Reagan Administration officials quickly ruled out the possibility of any deal that had the appearance of an Iran-contra- style ransom. Reagan nonetheless chose to view the comment optimistically, saying, "If they're willing and ready to talk, it's time...
Another factor may have been a growing dissatisfaction on the part of some Iranian officials with their country's isolation from the rest of the world. "One of the wrong things we did in the revolutionary atmosphere was constantly to make enemies," Speaker Rafsanjani recently admitted. "We pushed those who could have been neutral into hostility." Tehran has begun trying to re-establish some of its old ties. In June, after intervening on behalf of three French hostages being held in Lebanon, Iran resumed normal relations with Paris, ending nearly a year's hiatus. Last week the country quietly restored...
...sudden move confounded the widespread prediction that the hostilities would not cease until he died. In the end, precisely the opposite may prove to be true. His departure is almost certain to open a period of political turmoil in Iran, with prolonged jockeying for position by, among others, Rafsanjani and Ayatullah Hussein Ali Montazeri, Khomeini's designated successor. Iranian leaders may have realized that the old man alone possessed the power to extricate Iran from the war. "It was vital for Khomeini to move now," said a U.S. intelligence analyst. "After his death, there would be nobody with the authority...
Whatever combination of forces was at work, they came to a head on July 16. That evening, according to U.S. intelligence sources, there was a meeting in Tehran of senior political officials, including Montazeri, Rafsanjani, Prime Minister Mir Hussein Mousavi and Ahmed Khomeini, the Ayatullah's eldest son. With Montazeri providing crucial support to Rafsanjani, his rival, the group decided to recommend that the elder Khomeini agree to the cease-fire. The next day they convened again and received what Rafsanjani described as a "historic and important decision of the Imam," presumably similar to the message later read on Iranian...