Iran’s Assembly of Experts convened its 16th session without its speaker Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani, who suffered a heart attack in early June and fell into a coma. The meeting of the assembly, which is constitutionally tasked with supervising and choosing the supreme leader, was led by deputy speaker Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi.
Grand Ayatollah Ali Mohammad Dastgheib, the assembly representative from Fars province, refused to attend the session in protest, although he said he would attend future sessions if he found it necessary.