Mourners Fill Streets at Funeral of Late Iranian President

Mourners chant slogans during the funeral of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in Tehran on Jan. 10, 2017.

Hundreds of thousands of mourners flooded the streets of Tehran, beating their chests and wailing in grief for Rafsanjani, who died over the weekend at the age of 82. 

A truck carries the coffin of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjanii on Jan. 10 in Tehran.

Rafsanjani, who was 82, was a pivotal figure in the foundation of the Islamic republic in 1979 and served as president from 1989 to 1997. After a long career in the ruling elite, where his moderate views were not always welcome, his cunning guided him through revolution, war and the country's turbulent politics.

A man holds a poster of Rafsanjani as he stands in a tree during the funeral.

Mourners surround the truck carrying Rafsanjani's coffin.

The funeral drew both the elite and ordinary people. Shops and schools were closed in national mourning.

A mourner holds a portrait of Rafsanjani.

Mourners carry the coffin of Rafsanjani during his burial at the shrine of the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, just outside Tehran.

Rafsanjani's final resting place near the late Khomeini, who led the revolution that toppled the American-backed shah, reflected his legacy as one of the pillars of Iran's clerical-dominated political system, as he served in later years as a go-between for hard-liners and reformists.

Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani attends a meeting in Tehran in 2011.