Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president of Iran, died Sunday at age 82. The Isna news agency said he died due to “heart complications.” Rafsanjani was considered to be a top leader in Iran’s 1979 revolution, and was an ally of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, for decades until Rafsanjani began to develop more liberal tendencies. Rafsanjani was a supporter of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. “The soul of a giant man of revolution, politics, a symbol of patience and strength, has ascended to skies,” Rouhani tweeted. Rafsanjani served as president for two terms, from 1989 to 1997. Iran has declared three days of national mourning.
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