"Iran’s former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Sunday after a decades-long career in the ruling elite, where his moderate views were not always welcome but his cunning guided him through revolution, war and the country’s turbulent politics."

What a pithy and accurate  summary.

Iranian politics is a extremely dangerous blood sport. It requires cunning and guile.  It is not for amateurs.  This man was a master.

A good biography of his extraordinary life would be well worth reading.