The position probably gave him a mouthpiece to blast the regime and some protection. Anyone want to start a betting pool on how long it will take until his corpse is found in some dark alley in Tehran?
If you can provide any proof of Rafsanjani ‘blasting the regime’, you’d probably have a point.
The Islamic Republic regime killing one of their own is not much of a bet. Besides, no one, except Rafsanjani, his disciples, and those in the West who support him for their own interests, would care if his corpse was found any where.