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Iran cleric warns of takeover attempt on Assembly of Experts

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati has alerted listeners to a planned takeover of the Assembly of Experts, the body that chooses and monitors the activities of the supreme leader.
Iranian clerics attend a meeting of Iran's Assembly of Experts in Tehran on March 5, 2013. Iran's Assembly of Experts is an 86-seat body that selects the supreme leader and supervises his activities and holds sessions twice a year. AFP PHOTO/ ATTA KENARE        (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)

Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, one of the most powerful clerics in Iran, has warned of a plot to take over the Assembly of Experts, a body that chooses and monitors Iran’s supreme leader.

While Jannati’s March 30 speech in Mashhad was vague and did not accuse any specific group of being behind such a plot, his comments made headlines across conservative and hard-line websites in Iran and have raised questions and inspired speculation on social media about succession after the rule of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ends.

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