Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi was elected as the new chief of Iran’s Assembly of Experts which is in charge of electing and removing the Supreme Leader and supervising his activities.

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi was elected as the new chief of Iran's Assembly of Experts which is in charge of electing and removing the Supreme Leader and supervising his activities.

Assembly member Mohsen Kazzerouni told Fars News Agency that Ayatollah Yazdi was elected with 47 votes.

Ayatollah Yazdi had tight rivalry on Tuesday morning with the other two candidates, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a former judiciary chief, and Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president and Experts Assembly chairman who now chairs the Expediency Council vetting body.

The 17th meeting of Iran's Assembly of Experts was headed by Ayatollah Shahroudi. Shahroudi was the vice-chairman of the assembly and chaired the sessions after the head of the clerical body, the late Ayatollah Mahdavi Kanni, went into comma five months ago and died a few months later.

Ayatollah Yazdi is an Iranian cleric who served as the head of the Judiciary between 1989 and 1999, following Ayatollah Abdolkarim Moussavi Ardebili and succeeded by Ayatollah Shahroudi.

Ayatollah Yazdi is a member of the Assembly of Experts and the Guardian Council. He served as the provisional Friday prayers leader of Tehran.