Iranian Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei appointed prominent Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as chairman of the Expediency Council in 1998, immediately after the latter's term of office as president ended.

The Expediency Council is a high-powered body that has the say on disputes between the Parliament and the Guardians Council.

Hashemi Rafsanjani, 67, has devoted forty years of his life to politics, half of which was spent in political campaigns against the Shah's regime prior to the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran, while the other half was given to holding top-notch political positions in the Islamic Republic.

Contrary to most Iranian clerics, who earn a living through religious posts and practice, Hashemi Rafsanjani was born into a well-to-do rural family that gave him the opportunity to engage in politics without concern about having to make a living.

The first half of Hashemi Rafsanjani's political life was spent either in jail or in political campaigns against Mohammad Reza Shah's regime. After the culmination of Iran's Islamic Revolution, he was at the helm of top government positions, thanks to his close affinity with Ayatollah Ruhullah Khomeini, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Founder of the Islamic Republic.

Between the years 1979 to 1980, he was a member of the Council of the Revolution, deputy minister, and interior minister. He served as Majlis (Parliament) speaker from July 1980 to August 1989.

Ayatollah Khomeini appointed him as one of Tehran's Friday prayer leaders in 1981 after an aborted assassination bid against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who also served as a Tehran Friday prayer leader then.

This was an important nationwide tribune that enabled Hashemi Rafsanjani to present his outlooks and views on any subject rampant in the country and be heard by the entire country and even the whole world. In October 1981, he was appointed the Leader's representative to the High Council of Security.

In July 1983, he was appointed vice-president of the Experts Assembly, which is in charge of appointing and supervising the Leader, a post he still holds.

In July 1988, he was appointed commander-in-chief of Iran's Armed Forces, a position he had to give up a year later when he was elected president. Facing differences with the conservatives in 1996, Hashemi Rafsanjani worked behind the scene to form the technocratic Executives of Construction Party (ECP), which consisted of his most loyal supporters.

The ECP was not the first party he was launching, as in 1980, too, he was among the five founding members of the Islamic Republic Party. After serving two consecutive presidency terms, Hashemi Rafsanjani was appointed by the Leader as the chairman of the Expediency Council in 1998.

This was a novel development since up to that time, each President also chaired the Council which, alongside serving as an advisory board to the Leader, sees to Parliament bills that are not endorsed by the Council of Guardians.

Hashemi Rafsanjani has always regarded himself as a pragmatic and moderate politician. He is, however, a moderate only when Iran's politics is spinning in his favor. If not, he becomes unpredictable.

A prominent feature of Hashemi Rafsanjani is his avidity to be at the center-stage of politics. In the 1990s, all roads led to him!

In "Hero in History", Sidney Hook describes Lenin as highly talented in using party members who did not agree with his personal views to reach his objectives and says he was able to work with people who were unable to work with each other in his absence. Hashemi Rafsanjani well indicated the same talent during his presidency.

When Hashemi Rafsanjani's presidential tenure ended, he was dubbed as Iran's "leader of construction" and won acclaim from Ayatollah Khamenei who said no one could take Hashemi's place for him.

But Hashemi Rafsanjani's break from active involvement in politics lasted only two years. By running for a Parliament seat in Iran's February 18 elections, Hashemi Rafsanjani has indicated his willingness to take part in the upcoming marathon to win peoples' votes once more.

Even though Hashemi Rafsanjani seemed not to be in the frontline of Iran's politics over the last two years, his political supporters were the butt of biting criticism from the conservatives, once Hashemi's closest allies.

Over this period, former Tehran Mayor and Secretary General of the ECP, Ghulam Hussein Karbaschi, the most influential and successful member of the Hashemi cabinet, was tried on graft charges after he and his party vehemently supported moderate President Mohammad Khatami.

Karbaschi was sentenced to jail, cash fine, and 10-year ban on governmental work. Thanks to Hashemi Rafsanjani's behind-the-scene diplomacy, Karbaschi was recently released from jail, a forward step ahead of the upcoming elections in Iran. But the ban on his governmental activity is still in force.

In view of Karbaschi's high managerial capability, some of his supporters hold that the sentence is actually costly for the governmental organizations since these have been deprived of a brilliant manager for a decade!

Over the same period, Hashemi Rafsanjani's younger daughter, Faezeh, a founding member of the ECP, was tried on the charge of press violations, a trial that led to the closure of her paper Zan last April.

Ataullah Mohajerani, another member of the ECP and culture minister in Khatami's cabinet, was another target over the past two years. He faced an impeachment motion tabled by conservative parliamentarians. But thanks to his fervently eloquent speech in Parliament, he was able to win another vote of confidence and retain his Cabinet seat.

Abdullah Nouri, Khatami's interior minister and long-time Hashemi ally, had to give up his Cabinet seat after conservative parliamentarians impeached him last year.

Shortly afterwards, he launched the reformist Khordad daily. But before long he was tried and put to jail on the charge of weakening the Islamic Republic and attempting to establish relations with the US.

Hashemi Rafsanjani retained political silence all through these tumultuous two years. The tables have, however, turned now, as Hashemi Rafsanjani tries to strengthen his foothold and regain his predominance in Iranian politics.

As a first step, Hashemi Rafsanjani has attempted to consolidate his party through securing the release of Karbaschi, after whose imprisonment the ECP has been terribly shaken.

Aware of the need for the ECP's reconstruction and consolidation, Karbaschi has announced, as a first step, his determination to launch a new paper, The Compatriot, which will serve as the party's official organ, a position previously held by Zan.

Hashemi Rafsanjani's second step is to win the support of the reformists, probably through Karbaschi, whom the reformists consider as a highly reputable ECP member.

Karbaschi is expected to link the ECP and the reformist Majma Rouhaniyoon Mobarez (MRM) in a drive to win the MRM support for Hashemi Rafsanjani.

This would be a good start for Karbaschi's new political activities following his release from jail. It would also augur well for Hashemi Rafsanjani; however, the rapid pace of reform in Iran would not give Hashemi Rafsanjani the chance to enjoy his former popularity among the Iranian people and to regain his past political position.

Seven centuries back, Saint Thomas Aquinas said if a ship's captain takes the protection of the ship as his main concern, he will never leave the berth. A good captain is one who navigates while accepting the danger and risk of storm.

But at times, the risks are so high that they devastate both the captain and the ship. In any event, Hashemi Rafsanjani is a prominent political figure in Iran. He has played an important role in shaping a major part of Iran's contemporary history. But great men often commit big mistakes as well.

Hashemi Rafsanjani in principle is never eager to take risks. He has always made political decisions when he has seen at least a 70 percent chance of success. This time, however, he has committed a blunder by taking an uncalculated decision to return to politics at a time when the country is in a new phase and requires new potentials and capacities, which Hashemi Rafsanjani apparently lacks.

In case Hashemi Rafsanjani fails to win the support of all reformist wings, he might not even be able to get a seat in Parliament. Even granting that he is elected, Hashemi Rafsanjani's political life will not be the same success story as that of the 90s.

As such, Hashemi Rafsanjani's best choice would be to retain his chairmanship of the Expediency Council. This will grant him greater control and power, since even though the sixth Majlis will most probably be dominated by the reformists, Parliament approvals will still have to be endorsed by the Council of Guardians, and the Expediency Council will have to interfere to decide on disputes between the two powerful bodies.

Hashemi Rafsanjani is presently living the most mercurial moments of his political life. As Henry Kissinger put it, the most adept politicians are those who are capable of realizing the relationship between necessity and accident and who avoid the dual danger of disregarding objective reality and being submerged in history's inevitable disregard.