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		</div><p>Former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has died aged 82.</p>
<p>Iranian state media said that Mr Rafsanjani was taken to hospital because of a heart condition.</p>
<p>Mr Rafsanjani, who served as president from 1989 to 1997, was a leading politician who often played kingmaker in the country&#8217;s turbulent politics, and supported President Hassan Rouhani.</p>
<p>Mr Rafsanjani was head of the Expediency Council, a body that advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and in March he won a seat on the clerical body that will one day decide Mr Khamenei&#8217;s successor.</p>
<p>Mr Rafsanjani&#8217;s mix of sly wit and reputation for cunning moves &#8211; both in politics and business &#8211; earned him a host of nicknames such as Akbar Shah, or Great King, during a life that touched every major event in Iranian affairs since before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.</p>
<p>His presence, whether directly or through back channels, was felt in many forms. He was a steady leader in Iran&#8217;s turbulent years after overthrowing the US-backed shah, a veteran warrior in the country&#8217;s internal political battles and a covert go-between in intrigue such as the Iran-Contra arms deals in the 1980s.</p>
<p>He was handed an unexpected political resurgence in his later years.</p>
<p>The surprise presidential election in 2013 of Mr Rafsanjani&#8217;s political soulmate, Mr Rouhani, gave the former president an insider role in reform-minded efforts that included Mr Rouhani&#8217;s push for direct nuclear talks with Washington.</p>
<p>Mr Rouhani&#8217;s victory was also another example of Mr Rafsanjani&#8217;s remarkable political luck. He was blocked from the ballot by Iran&#8217;s election overseers &#8211; presumably worried about boosting his already wide-ranging influence. But, in the end, many liberals turned to Mr Rouhani as an indirect vote for Mr Rafsanjani.</p>
<p>It came after years of dwindling influence. Another presidential comeback bid was snuffed out by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad&#8217;s surprise victory in 2005 elections, which left Mr Rafsanjani and his powerful clan as fierce critics of Mr Ahmadinejad.</p>
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