Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts and senior advisor to the Iran's supreme leader, passed away at the age of 76 after a heart attack on Tuesday.

Born in Iraq in 1944, he was a member of the Assembly of Experts, advisor to Iran's supreme leader on the Islamic world, and was secretary general of the Ahl Al-Bayt World Assembly.

During the 1980s Taskhiri served as the Iranian representative to the Organization of the Islamic Conference and was involved in promoting Iranian interests during the height of the Iran–Iraq War.

His role, while always significant in the government of Iran, became even more so after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

He was a signatory to an intellectual letter from 38 Muslim scholars, sent as the official Islamic response to Islamophobic comments made by Pope Benedict XVI on September 12, 2006.

He is one of the Ulama signatories of the Amman Message, which gives a broad foundation for defining Muslim orthodoxy.

At the time of his death in 2020, he was the head of the Islamic Culture and Communications Organization in Iran. (ILKHA)