Akbar Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani (Persian: اکبر هاشمی بهرمانی رفسنجانی ; 25 August 1934 – 8 January 2017) was an Iranian Shia cleric and politician who was the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic of Iran , Rafsanjani was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011 when he decided not to nominate himself for the post. He was also the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council .