Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pillar of Iranian politics since the 1979 revolution, served as Iran’s president from 1989 to 1997, when he was barred by the constitution from standing for a consecutive third term.

Mr Rafsanjani ran again in 2005, but lost unexpectedly in the second ballot to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who stormed to the presidency promising a fairer distribution of oil wealth to poorer Iranians and who saw off his wealthy rival by painting him as a tycoon in a turban.