The cunning, indomitable Rafsanjani, 81, is the phoenix of Iranian politics, rising time and again from the political ashes.

Despite countless attempts by the conservative establishment of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to isolate him and distance him from the centers of power, Rafsanjani has given Khamenei and his supporters a new lesson in political maneuvering. If he were a Western statesman, an entire season of “House of Cards” would surely have been devoted to him.

Rafsanjani served as Iran’s president from 1989 to 1997, and was replaced by the reformist Mohammad Khatami (long since sidelined). When he tried to run in 2005 for a third term, he competed against the champion of the conservatives — and of Ali Khamenei — Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Rafsanjani was once a key supporter of his friend Khamenei’s bid to become supreme leader. But in the 2005 presidential race, Rafsanjani suspected that it was Khamenei who stood behind a wave of publicity about his alleged corruption. A cold split developed between the two since those elections, and the divide has only grown.

During the wave of demonstrations after the 2009 presidential elections, Rafsanjani’s daughter was arrested and jailed for six months. Rafsanjani himself moved to Qom, the Shiite holy city, and was careful not to challenge the regime directly. He was removed from the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts, the body which selects the supreme leader, and as a consolation prize was made head of a consultative body that mediates between the Majlis and the Guardian Council and can disqualify election candidates.

That same body then disqualified Rafsanjani himself in the presidential race in 2013, prompting him to take “revenge” against his conservative enemies by supporting Rouhani, the relative moderate in the race.

Since then, the friendship between Rafsanjani and Rouhani has flourished, while the divide between Rafsanjani and the conservatives has only widened.

Read the article in full at Times of Israel.