raaknews-Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani an influential politician and close ally to the Father of the Islamic Revolution the late Imam Khomeini in both pre and post-Islamic Revolution days and also Supreme Leader Ayatollah ASeyyed Ali Khamenei died on Sunday due to cardiac arrest in a Tehran hospital at the age of 82.

Born in Rafsanjan, Kerman Province, central Iran, on August 25, 1934, the late ayatollah played a key role in the pre-Islamic Revolution era in a campaign leading to the fall of the monarchy of Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi.

The late Ayatollah Rafsanjani served in different key positions in the post-revolution era, including membership in the Revolutionary Council, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces during the eight years of Iraq's imposed war against Iran (1980-88), speaker of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) for three terms, and serving as the country's president from 1989-1997.

He was also the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011. Serving as the chairman of the Expediency Council was the last position of the veteran cleric