Hours after a statement was released by the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts, President Masoud Pezeshkian rushed to Qom on June 28. He met with several prominent Grand Ayatollahs to express deep concern over “efforts by certain internal and external factions to damage national cohesion and disrupt the ongoing diplomatic agreements.”
Pezeshkian’s urgent trip to Qom followed a controversial move on Saturday, June 27, when 63 out of the 88 members of the Assembly of Experts signed a joint statement declaring Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu Mahdoor al-Dam, meaning those whose blood may be shed legally under Islamic law. The statement declared that if any “devout Muslim” gains access to these American and Israeli leaders, killing them is a “religious duty.” Furthermore, the declaration demanded that Iranian negotiators strictly adhere to the Supreme Leader’s red lines and completely remove the nuclear program from the diplomatic agenda.
Internal Rifts in the Assembly of Experts
Hours before Pezeshkian arrived in Qom on Sunday, the Secretariat of the Assembly of Experts issued an official notice stating that its Presidium had labeled the Saturday declaration as “unusual” and “unconventional.”
