was the chairman of the Expediency Council (a legislative arbitration committee) of Iran from 1989 until his death. He was also the fourth president of Iran from 3 August 1989 until 3 August 1997. He was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011 when he decided not to nominate himself for the post.During the Iran–Iraq War Rafsanjani was the de facto commander-in-chief of the Iranian military. Rafsanjani was elected chairman of the Iranian parliament in 1980 and served until 1989. He played an important role in the choice of Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader.Rafsanjani became president of Iran after winning 1989 election. He served another term by winning election in 1993. In 2005 election he ran for a third term in office, placing first in the first round of elections but ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the run-off. He and his familly came under fire from conservatives for their support of Mir-Hossein Mousavi who led protests in 2009.Rafsanjani has been described as having been a pragmatic Islamic conservative. The Economist called him a "veteran kingmaker." He supported a free market position domestically, favoring privatization of state-owned industries and a moderate position internationally, seeking to avoid conflict with the United States and the West. He was also founder and one of the Board of Trustees of Azad University.On 11 May 2013, Rafsanjani entered the race for the June 2013 presidential election, but on 21 May he was disqualified by the Guardian Council. With Hassan Rouhani's election, in which Rafsanjani openly supported him, the Rafsanjani family gradually recovered their political reputation.Rafsanjani died following a heart attack on 8 January 2017 in a hospital in Tehran at the age of 82.

Source: Wikipedia