An outspoken anti-Western cleric was chosen on Tuesday as the new head of the Assembly of Experts, a key body in Iran.
Observers of Iranian politics regard the election of 90-year-old Ahmad Jannati, a critic of Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, as a sign that hardliners are still in firm control of the body which will choose the successor of the current supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Khamenei, 77, is rumored to be in frail health. As supreme leader, he has the final say on all state matters, including foreign policy, and serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The supreme leader also appoints the heads of the judiciary, state broadcasting and major economic conglomerates. By comparison, the Iranian president has little power.
In a letter to the new assembly, carried by state media, Khamenei asked the new members to "guard the Islamic and revolutionary identity" of Iran and pay attention to the "personal and political piety of the supreme leader."
The selection of Jannati, with 51 votes, as the new head is likely to surprise voters in the February election who managed to block many hardliners from keeping their seats in the assembly. Jannati had squeezed in as the last of 16 members elected in the capital district of Tehran.
Jannati is also the chairman of the Guardian Council, a hardline vetting body that disqualified the majority of prominent reformist and many moderate candidates from running in the February elections. Jannati's son Ali is the current culture minister of Iran.
Even by the standards of Iran's clerical establishment, Jannati stands out for his virulently anti-Western opinions, once accusing the West of having created the al-Qaeda terrorist network and describing US forces in Iraq as "bloodthirsty wolves".
Photo: Meghdad Madadi, Wikimedia Commons
