The Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, led by Mesbah Yazdi, said he had been hospitalized for the past few days with a disease in his digestive system.
The prominent cleric played a major role in the 1979 uprising that overthrew the West-backed Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.
Mesbah Yazdi was generally seen as a hard line and anti-Western, including occupying anti-American positions. As an outspoken critic of a liberal press, he was known to have campaigned against domestic opposition, feminism and gender equality.
According to regional experts, he was a spiritual mentor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president who served from 2005 to 2013.
According to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, he expressed sympathy for the passing of Mesbah Yazdi, according to Press TV, which reported that Mesbah Yazdi was 85 years old.
Iran’s semi-official news agency Mehr said Mesbah Yazdi was close to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mesbah Yazdi was a member of the Assembly of Experts – the body responsible for electing and monitoring the performance of Iran’s Supreme Leader – and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, reports Press TV.