Assembly of Religious Experts?

• A. 86 elected clerics serving 4-year terms, elect the supreme leader, have power to remove the supreme leader
• B. A parliamentary committee
• C. A judicial panel
• D. An executive council

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is the Assembly of Experts, a body composed of clerics whose main role is to oversee the Supreme Leader. This group is made up of 86 religious scholars elected from across the country, and it holds the authority to elect the Supreme Leader and to remove him if he is deemed unfit. This combination of religious legitimacy and political power is what distinguishes this assembly in Iran’s system, where religious authorities supervise political leadership. In practice, members are elected for eight-year terms, not four, which is important context for understanding the timeline of their mandate.

The other options refer to bodies that do not have the power to appoint or depose the Supreme Leader: a parliamentary committee works within the legislative branch, a judicial panel belongs to the judiciary, and an executive council is part of the executive/administrative structure. None of those bodies has the authority to elect or remove the Leader, so they don’t fit the described role of the Assembly of Experts.