Ayatollah Amoli Larijani named as Iran’s new Expediency Council chairman

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei appointed Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani as the new chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council.

The Leader appointed Amoli Larijani, who currently heads the country’s judiciary, as EC chairman in a decree issued on Sunday. Amoli Larijani replaces late Ayatollah Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi who passed away at the age of 70 this week.

The prominent religious and political figure had suffered acute ill health for months and succumbed to renal and intestinal malfunctions at Khatam ol-Anbiya Hospital in Tehran on Monday.

The Expediency Council deals with major strategies and policy lines of the country. It is also vested with the responsibility to resolve differences between the parliament and the Guardian Council over parliament approvals rejected by the GC.

Also in another decree, the Iranian leader appointed Ayatollah Amoli Larijani as a member of the Guardian Council.

The Guardian Council is a vetting body tasked with interpreting the Constitution, supervising elections of, and approving of candidates to, the Assembly of Experts, the President and the Parliament, and ensuring the compatibility of the legislation passed by the parliament with the criteria of Islam and the Constitution.

Ayatollah Amoli Larijani has served two five-year terms as Judiciary chief and is believed to be replaced soon after his second term comes to end later this year.