Chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts Hospitalized

The chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts has reportedly been hospitalized after suffering a heart failure.

The hard-line Fars and Tasnim news agencies reported that 83-year-old Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani was in a coma.

But the semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Kani's office as saying that his heart condition has deteriorated but that the cleric was not in a coma.

Kani's office also called on Iranians to pray for his recovery.

The Assembly of Experts is tasked with appointing and dismissing Iran's supreme leader and monitoring his work.

Critics say that the constitutional body has never seriously performed its duties.
Based on reporting by ISNA, Fars, Tasnim, and IRNA