Iran has elected a hard-liner to one of its top positions

Iran's Assembly of Experts has chosen hard-liner Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati to head the powerful body, which is responsible for electing and overseeing the work of Iran’s supreme leader.

The 88-member Assembly of Experts elected Jannati with 51 votes after its inauguration on May 24. 

Two other conservatives, Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini and Mahmud Hashemi Sharhoudi, won 21 and 13 votes, respectively.

No moderates or reformists stood for the post.

Jannati secured reelection in a February vote that saw a landslide for reformists and moderates in Tehran and big gains elsewhere. However, the assembly remains controlled by conservatives.

The 89-year-old cleric also heads the Guardians Council -- the unelected, constitutional watchdog that disqualified hundreds of reformist candidates from the parliamentary and assembly votes.

Jannati is a critic of President Hassan Rohani and his attempts to end Iran's isolation by normalizing relations with the West.

Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and IRNA

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