Word: rafsanjani
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...hands, including the Fao peninsula, staging areas east of Basra, and the oil-rich Majnoun islands at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Khomeini desperately searched for ways to turn the tide, handing over command of the country's armed forces in June to Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful and relatively pragmatic speaker of parliament...
...allies. Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, spiritual leader of the pro-Iranian Hizballah in Lebanon, urged that no harm come to the nine American hostages held by Muslim extremists. "I find no justification for making the hostages account for a matter to which they are not connected," Fadlallah said. Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's powerful and pragmatic Assembly speaker, last week warned against "some amateurish action" that might "remove the wave of propaganda that is now heaped on America's head." By showing moderation, the Iranians apparently hope to press their propaganda advantage when the United Nations Security Council considers Iran...
...defensive, forced to regroup and rebuild after decisive defeats at the hands of the Iraqi army. The battlefield losses in turn have increased tensions between radical and moderate factions among the ruling mullahs and led the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini to bestow his title of commander in chief to Hashemi Rafsanjani, the powerful Speaker of Parliament...
...more potent Khomeini loyalists is Rafsanjani, 53, who last week was re-elected Speaker of Parliament. That post, combined with his new designation as commander in chief, makes him the most powerful leader below Khomeini. Because he does not have the necessary religious credentials, Rafsanjani will never be able to inherit the Ayatullah's mantle. He may instead be content to serve as the power behind the throne of Ayatullah Hussein Ali Montazeri, Khomeini's designated successor as spiritual leader. But by assuming his new military duties Rafsanjani also risks becoming a scapegoat for future Iranian defeats...
...While Rafsanjani is considered a pragmatist known to want an end to the war, for the moment his rhetoric is as militant as Khomeini's. At a prayer meeting after his appointment as commander in chief, Rafsanjani spoke of the "infallible determination of Iran to pursue the war against Iraq, no matter what the cost...