Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Iranian president, died on January 8th. Supporters demonstrated and outpouring of grief at his funeral, and this serves as another blow to an already tenuous situation in Iranian politics. 

Rafsanjani was a crucial pawn in current- President Hassan Rouhani’s campaign. However, Rafsanjani’s death has now created an issue for Rouhani. Without the support of the former president, he now has to face a skeptical electorate without the help of a former President to support him. Ali Ansari, professor of Iranian history at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, has stated that “I’ve never felt that Rouhani is as big a player as some of the previous generation’s Presidents.”

The Irani moderates are truly grieving their lost representative because in many ways, Rafsanjani was their only voice. If the presidency is to be passed from Rouhani to a new candidate, the Iranian people risk losing Rouhani’s and Rafsanjani’s ideology that the betterment of the future of Iran lies in better world relations and outreach to other countries, including the United States. Although relations between the two nations were still tense during Rafsanjani’s term, they were still much better than the norm between the United States and Iran. Rafsanjani was an advocate for change in Iran, and even once tweeted, “The world of tomorrow is one of negotiations, not the world of missiles.” Nicole Lampariello says, “My hope for the people of Iran is that their hope does not die and is not buried along with Rafsanjani.”