Assembly of Experts

The Assembly of Experts (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, romanized: Majles-e Khobregān-e Rahbarī, lit. 'Assembly of Experts for Leadership') is the deliberative body of Iran empowered to appoint, supervise, and discharge the Supreme Leader of Iran. The assembly consists of 88 members who are directly elected by the public to serve eight-year terms, and all candidates must be vetted by the Guardian Council.

The assembly consists of 88 Mujtahids that are elected from lists of thoroughly vetted candidates (in 2016, 166 candidates were approved by the Guardians out of 801 who applied to run for the office), by direct public vote for eight-year terms. The number of members has ranged from 82 elected in 1982 to 88 elected in 2016. Current laws require the assembly to meet at least twice every six months. Half of the Guardian Council members are appointed by the Supreme Leader; this model has led to controversy as many reformist or opposition candidates are excluded, limiting voter choice.

According to article 111 of Iran's constitution "whenever the Leader becomes incapable of fulfilling his constitutional duties, or [loses] one of the qualifications mentioned in Articles 5 and 109, or it becomes known that he did not possess some of the qualifications initially, he will be dismissed." A transition process took place after Khomeini's death, and it elevated Ali Khamenei with "inferior religious credentials" from the status of hojatoleslam to the higher rank of ayatollah for the sake of succession.

On 3 March 2026, during the 2026 Iran war, US-Israeli air forces struck and damaged the Assembly of Experts office building in Qom.