Outpouring of grief as massive crowds mourn Rafsanjani
Hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Tehran today, beating their chests and wailing in grief for late Iranian leader Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died over the weekend at the age of 82.
The crowds filled main thoroughfares of the capital as top government and clerical officials held a funeral service at Tehran University.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, held prayers as other dignitaries knelt before Mr Rafsanjani's coffin on which his white cleric's turban was placed, reaching their hands out for one final embrace.
Just behind Ayatollah Khamenei was President Hassan Rouhani, whose moderate administration led the recent nuclear negotiations with world powers.
Mr Rouhani, who is all but certain to run for re-election in May, is viewed as embodying Mr Rafsanjani's realist vision.
Hard-liners also took part in the ceremony on Tuesday, which was a public holiday across the country.
Among them was Qassem Soleimani, a general who heads the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force, which focuses on foreign operations like the war in Syria.
Both Mr Soleimani and Mr Rafsanjani are from Iran's south-eastern province of Kerman and worked together during the 1980s war against Iraq.
Apparently banned from the funeral was former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who remains popular among the young but is deeply disliked by hard-liners. State media have banned the broadcasting of any images of Mr Khatami.
Outside, mourners carried posters bearing Mr Rafsanjani's image as his coffin slowly made its way through the streets.
"I rarely attend religious ceremonies, but I am here as an Iranian who cannot forget Rafsanjani's contribution to developing political sphere in favor of people in recent years," said Nima Sheikhi, a computer teacher at a private school.
Nearby was cleric Reza Babei, from the eastern town of Birjand near Afghan border.
"I am here to say goodbye to a man who dedicated his life to make Iran better," he said. "He founded the university in my city and developed our region when he was in power."
Mr Rafsanjani's coffin was heading to the ornate, massive shrine of the late Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini. There, he will be buried by the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution which overthrew the rule of the American-backed shah.
Mr Rafsanjani, a close aide to both Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei, served as president from 1989 to 1997.
His life mirrored Iran's modern history. He served as the right-hand man of Ayatollah Khomeini. He led the military during the ruinous war with Iraq in the 1980s. He helped launch Iran's nuclear programme and then pushed for reconciliation with the West.
In the years after Ayatollah Khomeini's death in 1989, Mr Rafsanjani represented one of an ever-shrinking number of leaders directly tied to the Islamic Revolution.
Internally, however, his legacy remains mixed. He was massively wealthy and a veteran at manoeuvring within Iran's opaque political system.
He was considered a protector of the moderates, but many reformers distrusted him because he was such an insider and because of accusations he was involved in killing dissidents during his eight-year presidency, which he always denied.
Hard-liners distrusted him because of his support of moderates and sought to sideline him, but he was too powerful and entrenched to be discounted.
