BEIRUT, LEBANON (6:40 P.M.) – The fourth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, passed away today after suffering a heart attack in Tehran at the age of 82.
Rafsanjani was a very influential Iranian politician and a close friend and confidant of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, supporting the rise of the latter during the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Since the founding of the Islamic Republican of Iran, Rafsanjani has played an integral role in the country’s political and religious affairs.
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Rafsanjani’s intelligence and popularity allowed him to win the Iranian presidency in 1989, succeeding the current spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah ‘Ali Khamenei.
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