Who is Larijani?

He's the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament.

Since the election, Larijani has rarely been noted or quoted in the western press, except for an occasional sentence in the print media. Media attention has been directed primarily toward Rafsanjani as the man to watch in the current turmoil. As Speaker of the Majlis, Larijani immediately and repeatedly condemned the violence against the students at Teheran University on Monday night (June 15). The website of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) for the week of June 13-17 reported that the Larijani said he had visited some of the areas where students had been assaulted and asked what the “meaning” was of attacking students in their dormitories at 2:30 in the morning. He said that laws had to be observed, and that the Minister of the Interior must be held “accountable for such incidents.” Larijani promised that the Majles would “seriously investigate” such issues.

On Thursday, even CNN had taken note: “Speaker Ali Larijani blamed the Interior Ministry for the raid on the dorm and attacks on civilians.” The article added that “Larijani’s comments are seen as an unprecedented rebuke to Ahmadinejad, who has been taking heat from many religious conservatives who’ve knocked the president’s criticism of protesters. And such criticism reflects an unprecedented public airing of a rift among ruling conservatives.”