“It is Mr. Khatami who should take on the burden of the late Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s responsibility,” said Mohammadreza Shamsolvaezin, a former reformist politician and activist. But Mr. Khatami is all but paralyzed politically. The hard-line-dominated judiciary has ordered all Iranian media not to carry his picture or even quote his website. Besides appearances at theater plays, religious gatherings and art exhibitions, Mr. Khatami has remained silent.

Mr. Rafsanjani could speak more freely than others, not only because of his revolutionary credentials, but also because of his friendship with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, whom he helped become supreme leader in 1989.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who has skillfully played all Iranian factions, would never go as far as to completely isolate Mr. Rafsanjani, even when he supported protests that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election. While the presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi were placed under house arrest in 2011 for their criticisms, Mr. Rafsanjani was stripped of several functions but never purged.

In a statement, Ayatollah Khamenei lamented the passing of Mr. Rafsanjani. Still, it was clear to many that Ayatollah Khamenei regarded him not only as a friend but a rival, whose absence could now make the role of supreme leader even more powerful.

“The loss of a comrade and ally, with whom I share a friendship that dates back to 59 years ago, is difficult and heart-rending,” said a statement posted on Ayatollah Khamenei’s website on Sunday. He also referred obliquely to their disagreements.

“Differences in views and interpretations of Islamic law in various points of this long time could never break the friendship,” the statement said. “After him, I cannot think of anyone with whom I share such long history and experience along the highs and lows of historical moments.”

Hard-liners joined in on the mourning, giving public statements of condolence, but with the realization that the political wind in Iran would now blow even more in their favor.