The Comeback Cleric

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"We're not willing to suspend," Rafsanjani says. "But we're ready to provide greater assurances to the world that we won't move from peaceful nuclear technology to military technology." However, the Bush Administration believes that he is not likely to abandon what the U.S. regards as the regime's ultimate goal, a nuclear weapon. "Some people think Rafsanjani is a great reformer," a senior State Department official says. "He has indicated he might want to open up relations with the U.S. But he's also the father of the Iranian nuclear program." Notes a senior White House official: "If you look at his past performance, you have to be skeptical, to say the least."

If nothing else, Rafsanjani has proved to be one of Iran's most durable politicians. A confidant of revolutionary leader Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini, Rafsanjani served as the powerful speaker of the Majlis, or National Assembly, for nine years before becoming President two months after Khomeini's death in 1989. In the mid-'80s, he played a pivotal role in the secret arms-for-hostages talks with Reagan Administration officials. Rafsanjani acknowledged to TIME that "we made a limited agreement with them for receiving weapons in return for freeing hostages" held by pro-Iranian militants in Lebanon. He received a leather-bound Bible that Reagan sent as a gift through former aide Oliver North, which Rafsanjani says is inscribed with Reagan's signature.

Rafsanjani's resilience has enabled him to survive debacles that would have ruined a lesser pol. Many Iranians blame him for prolonging Iran's eight-year war with Iraq by encouraging Khomeini to continue fighting after Iran's decisive recapture of the gulf port of Khorramshahr in 1982. As President, Rafsanjani withstood criticism from human-rights activists and a German court for ignoring, if not approving, the murder by Iranian hit squads of regime opponents in Europe; the Iranian government rejected the accusations outright. Rafsanjani's critics view him as opportunistic, corrupt in financial dealings and lacking guiding principles. "Have you ever heard of Machiavelli?" asks Ibrahim Yazdi, head of the Iran Freedom Movement and a former colleague of Rafsanjani's. "His policy is always to be ambiguous. But he is a cleric, and deep down, he is a conservative."

But since announcing his candidacy for President in early May, Rafsanjani has tried to downplay his conservative reputation. When addressing young people, he emphasizes education and job opportunities but acknowledges that generation's discontent over the lack of freedom. In campaign leaflets, he promises a "transition to democracy." His makeover is testament to his ability to read political winds. The landslide re-election in 2001 of current President Mohammed Khatami made the idea of change so popular with voters that in this year's campaign everyone is posing as a reformer of some sort--even hard-line conservatives, who appear in campaign posters as smiling, gentle souls.