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Hussein-Ali Montazeri Najafabadi^[b][1][2] (24 September 1922^[3][4] – 19 December 2009) was an Iranian cleric, politician, theologian, writer, and activist who served as the first and only deputy supreme leader of Iran from 1985 to 1989. A reformist, he was one of the major figures of the Iranian Revolution and one of the highest-ranking authorities in Shia Islam.^[5]

Born in Najafabad to a poor family, he began his religious education at Isfahan Seminary and began studying the Quran and Arabic from a young age. He opposed the White Revolution and supported anti-Shah leaders, more notably Ruhollah Khomeini. After Khomeini’s exile in 1964, Montazeri “sat at the center of the clerical network”, which Khomeini had established to oppose the Shah’s rule.^[6] After gaining popularity in the late 1960’s, the SAVAK arrested him and he was sent to Evin Prison in 1974 but was released amid the Iranian Revolution in 1978. After the Shah’s fall, he served major positions such as the Speaker of the Assembly of Experts for Constitution in 1979 and rose the ranks to then being elected deputy supreme leader by the Assembly of Experts in 1985.

Montazeri was once designated by Ruhollah Khomeini as the successor to the supreme leadership; however, they had a falling-out in 1989 over government policies that Montazeri claimed infringed on people’s freedom and denied them their rights, especially after the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners.^[7] Montazeri spent his later years in Qom and remained politically influential in Iran but was placed under house arrest in 1997 for questioning “the unaccountable rule exercised by the supreme leader”,^[7] Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ruhollah Khomeini. He was known as the most knowledgeable senior Islamic scholar in Iran,^[8] a grand marja (religious authority) of Shia Islam, and was said to be one of Khamenei’s teachers.^[8]

For more than two decades, Montazeri was one of the main critics of the Islamic Republic’s domestic and foreign policy. He had also been an active advocate of Baháʼí Faith rights, civil rights, and women’s rights in Iran. Montazeri was a prolific writer of books and articles. He was a staunch proponent of an Islamic state, and he argued that post-revolutionary Iran was not being ruled as an Islamic state. His death and funeral in December 2009 was said to have marked “a new phase” in the presidential election protests due to his support for the Green Movement, led by former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi.^[9]

Born in 1922, Montazeri was from a peasant family in Najafabad,^[10][11] a city in Isfahan Province, 250 miles south of Tehran. His early theological education was at Isfahan Seminary. He became a teacher at the Faiziyeh Theological School. While there he answered Khomeini’s call to protest the White Revolution of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in June 1963 and was active in anti-Shah clerical circles.^[12] In late 1960s, Montazeri gained influence and popularity in Isfahan Province after his speeches criticizing the Shah, moving SAVAK to banish and subsequently imprison him.^[13] He was sent to prison in 1974 and released in 1978 in time to be active during the revolution.^[14] Montazeri then went to Qom where he studied theology.^[15]

Montazeri was known as an Islamic jurist who was made to pay for his liberal-leaning beliefs. He supported a democratic republic as the best form of government; however in his ideal model for government, an Islamic jurist acts as a supervisor and advisor, what he, along with Ayatollah Khomeini, termed as velayat-e faqih. He was the author of Dirasāt fī wilāyah al-faqīh, a scholarly book advocating the supervision of the administration by Islamic jurists. He believed in the independence of the government and did not accept any executive and policy making role for the Islamic jurist.^[16] Montazeri asserted that the rule of the jurisprudent should not be an absolute rule;^[17][18] instead, it should be limited to the function of advisor to the rulers, who are elected by the people.

In 1979, following the overthrow of the Shah, he played a pivotal role in instituting Iran’s new constitution. He was one of the leaders of the movement to replace the democratic and secular draft constitution proposed for the Islamic Republic with one where the supervision of Islamic jurists was recognized. He distributed “a detailed commentary and alternate draft” for Iran’s new constitution. It included proposals to specify that Twelver Shi’ism—and not Islam in general—was the official religion of the state and to state that Islamic jurists should appoint judges with the right of veto over all laws and actions that are against the Islamic principles.^[19] Later he served as the speaker on the Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution and that implemented many of his proposals.^[14]

During this time, Montazeri also served as Friday prayer leader of Qom, as a member of the Revolutionary Council and as deputy to Supreme Leader Khomeini. Khomeini began “to transfer some of his power” to Montazeri, in 1980. By 1983 “all government offices hung a small picture” of Montazeri next to that of Khomeini. In 1984, Montazeri became a grand ayatollah.^[20]

Montazeri initially rejected Khomeini’s proposal to make him his successor, insisting that the choice of successor be left to the democratically elected Assembly of Experts.^[21] Later, Montazeri relented, and following a session of the Assembly of Experts on 23 November 1985, he was officially appointed Khomeini’s successor as Supreme Leader.^{[22][8][23][24]}

Some observers believe Khomeini chose him for this role solely because of his support for Khomeini’s principle of theocratic rule by Islamic jurists. Khomeini’s proposed form of administration called for the most learned, or one of the most learned, Islamic jurists to “rule”, and of all those who might be considered a leading Islamic jurist, only Montazeri supported theocracy. In Montazeri’s opinion, however the jurist would not act as an absolute ruler, instead, he would act as an advisor and consultant.^[25]

Montazeri fell short of the theological requirements of the supreme Faqih. He could not claim descent from the Prophet nor did he possess all the credentials of a revered scholar of Islamic law. His religious followers were few. And he lacked the all-important charisma. His selection had happened for one reason—he was the only one among the candidates for Faqih who totally endorsed Khomeini’s vision of Islamic government.^[14]

In addition, traditionalists did not approve Montazeri’s designation as successor due to several reasons, including his problematic persona in Shiite seminaries during the reign of the Shah and his support for Ali Shariati’s and for Nematollah Salehi Najaf Abadi‘s works.^[26] Montazeri’s leadership qualifications were further hurt by not being a seyyed, or descendant of the Prophet Mohammed, traditionally wearing the black turban in Shiite Islam, like Khomeini and Khomeini’s successor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.^[27] In the early years of the revolution, he was not as popular as he was in the last two decades of his life. The middle class and elites would mock him in those early years.^[8]

Montazeri was one of Ayatollah Khomeini‘s two favorite pupils. Khomeini trusted Montazeri with important responsibilities and referred to him as “the fruit of his life”. Likewise, Montazeri respected and admired Khomeini’s “sheer determination and unshakable faith.”^[28]

Mehdi Karrubi claims that the tensions between Montazeri and Khomeini began in around October 1986 when Montazeri sent a letter to Khomeini, criticising and questioning the foundation of the state.^[29] Montazeri’s troubles became further evident due to his association with Mehdi Hashemi who ran an organization out of Montazeri’s office which sought to export the Islamic revolution. Hashemi is thought to have embarrassed Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani by leaking information of his connection with the Iran-Contra affair. Subsequently Hashemi was arrested, convicted and executed in September 1987 on charges of counterrevolutionary activities.^[30]

In November 1987, Montazeri created more controversy when he called for the legalization of political parties, though under strict regulation.^[31] He followed this by calling for “an open assessment of failures” of the Revolution and an end to the export of revolution, saying that Iran should inspire by example, not train and arm allied groups.^[30] Khomeini responded the next February by criticizing Montazeri and a month later called for a meeting of the Assembly of Experts to “discuss him.”^[30]

Things came to a head following the mass execution of political prisoners in late summer and early autumn 1988, when Montazeri gave a series of lectures in which he indicated support for a “far more open” policy.^[32] In an interview published in Keyhan in early 1989, he criticized Khomeini in language that is said to have sealed “his political fate”:

The denial of people’s rights, injustice and disregard for the revolution’s true values have delivered the most severe blows against the revolution. Before any reconstruction [takes place], there must first be a political and ideological reconstruction… This is something that the people expect of a leader.^[32]

Still worse for him were the publication abroad and broadcast on the BBC of his letters condemning the post-war wave of executions in March 1989.^[33] Montazeri also criticized Khomeini’s fatwa ordering the assassination of author Salman Rushdie saying: “People in the world are getting the idea that our business in Iran is just murdering people.”^[34]

On 26 March 1989, Khomeini strongly denounced Montazeri’s actions, and two days later Montazeri resigned his post.^[35] Montazeri did not protest, issuing a message concluding, “I ask all brothers and sisters not to utter a word in my support.”^[36]

In addition to losing his position as designated heir, Montazeri’s title of Grand Ayatollah was withdrawn, publication of his lectures in the Kayhan newspaper and references to him on the state radio were stopped, his portraits were ordered by the then Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi to be removed from offices and mosques,^[37] and his security guards were withdrawn. Articles and editorials appeared in various newspapers aimed at “dismantling” Montazeri’s “impeccable” revolutionary credentials.^[38]

According to numerous sources, the amendment to Iran’s constitution removing the requirement that the Supreme Leader be a Marja was instituted to deal with the problem of the lack of any remaining Grand Ayatollahs willing to accept “illimitable velayat-e faqih”.^[14][39][40] However, others said the reason marjas were not elected was because of their lack of votes in the Assembly of Experts. For example, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpaygani had the backing of only thirteen members of the assembly. Furthermore, there were other marjas present who accepted “illimitable velayat-e faqih”.^[41][42]

Khomeini died in June 1989 and another cleric, Ali Khamenei, was selected by the Assembly of Experts to be the new Supreme Leader. Khamenei had been a high-ranking Hojatoleslam before Montazeri’s removal. His promotion was accepted by many Shi’a,^[43] among the exceptions being Montazeri.

In December 1989, Montazeri’s supporters in Qom distributed “night letters” questioning Khamenei’s qualifications to be a Marja-e Taqlid (“Source of Emulation”), or in other words, an Ayatollah. In retaliation Revolutionary Guards “detained and humiliated” Montazeri, “forcing him to wear his nightcap rather than his white turban.”^[21]

In October 1997, after openly criticizing the authority of Khamenei, Montazeri was placed under house arrest under the pretext of protecting him from hardliners. He was freed from house arrest in 2003^[44][45] after more than 100 Iranian legislators called on President Khatami to free him. Some thought that the government lifted the house arrest to avoid the possibility of a popular backlash if the ailing Montazeri died while in custody.^[46]

During the 1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners, Montazeri wrote to Khomeini saying “at least order to spare women who have children … the execution of several thousand prisoners in a few days will not reflect positively and will not be mistake-free … A large number of prisoners have been killed under torture by interrogators … in some prisons of the Islamic Republic young girls are being raped … As a result of unruly torture, many prisoners have become deaf or paralysed or afflicted with chronic disease.”^[47]

On 22 January 2007, Montazeri criticized former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his nuclear and economic policies.^[48][49]

While agreeing Iran had the right to develop nuclear energy, he called Ahmadinejad’s approach to the issue aggressive, saying, “One has to deal with the enemy with wisdom, not provoke it, … his (provocation) only creates problems for the country”^[49] and asked, “Don’t we have other rights too?” referring to individual and human rights.^[48] Montazeri also criticized Iran’s economic performance under Ahmadinejad’s administration, noting the rate of inflation—including a 50% increase in housing costs^[48]—and arguing that a country cannot be run on “slogans”.^[50]

Montazeri, in a 2008 interview with Voice of America concerning the 29th anniversary of the revolution, stated that the revolution had given Islam a bad name, arguing “Unfortunately, it is only by name that the revolution remains Islamic. Its content has changed, and what is taking place in the name of Islam gives a bad image of the religion. This is the religion of kindness and tolerance.”^[51] He also issued a statement in 2008 in support of the rights of the persecuted Baháʼís in the Islamic Republic, saying that though Baháʼís were not People of the Book like Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, nonetheless:

“[T]hey are the citizens of this country, they have the right of citizenship and to live in this country. Furthermore, they must benefit from the Islamic compassion which is stressed in Quran and by the religious authorities.”^[52]

Montazeri again spoke out against Ahmadinejad on 16 June 2009 during the protests against his reelection. Ahmadinejad was controversially reelected as president after a closely contested and disputed race, which involved many candidates, but whose front-runners were Ahmadinejad and former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi. The government reported that Ahmadinejad had won the election with 62 percent of the vote. Montazeri stated that “No one in their right mind can believe” the results were fairly counted.^[53] Montazeri called for three days of public mourning for the death of Neda Agha-Soltan and others killed during 20 June protests. He further declared that the then current ruling government was neither Islamic nor a republic, but military.^[54][55] In November 2009, on the day before the 30th anniversary celebration of the Iran hostage crisis, Montazeri said that the occupation of the American embassy in 1979 had been a mistake.^[56]

While Ayatollah Montazeri has been celebrated as a champion of the rights of political prisoners, and human rights associated with the public sphere, in an interview^[57] conducted in 2003 in Qom with the Iranian feminist academic Golbarg Bashi he said that while men and women enjoy the same dignity and respect in the eyes of God, women’s rights must remain strictly under the domain of Shi’i fiqh rather than international human rights conventions such as CEDAW.

In response to Golbarg Bashi, Ayatollah Montazeri said:

Women are humans too… When we say humans, it includes both men and women… you see, if people around the world want to say certain things about women for example being equal to men in matters of inheritance or legal testimony, because these issues pertain to the very letter of the Qur’an, we cannot accept them… Now, consider that God Almighty has made it incumbent upon men to cover the expenses of women… in Iran we cannot accept those laws that are against our religion… on certain occasions that these laws contradict the very clear text of the Qur’an, we cannot cooperate… Men in general (no’-e mard ha), all things considered, are productively more active—both intellectual activities and practical activities… All things considered, the intellectual and practical activities of men are more than women.

When Bashi informed him that currently (2003) in Iranian universities, “some 60% of students are women” and asked him “so in future generations, when the number of professors, physicians, high-ranking experts, etc, will be mostly women, will Islam be able to have an ijtihad and modify these unjust laws because they no longer correspond with reality?”, Ayatollah Montazeri responded: “Those aspects of the Islamic law that are based on the very letter of the Qur’an, the answer is no. But certain other things yes, you can, and they can be subject to changing times. But those that are from the very letter of the Qur’an, no they cannot, and those have certain wisdom and subtleties in them.”^[57]

On 19 December 2009, Montazeri died in his sleep of heart failure at his home in Qom, at the age of 87.^[58] The Islamic Republic News Agency, the official news agency of Iran, did not use the Ayatollah title in its initial reports of his death and referred to him as the “clerical figure of rioters”.^[59] The state television and radio broadcasters were similar, showing the tension between the government and its opponents.^[60] Montazeri’s funeral was said to have marked “a new phase” in the 2009 Iranian presidential election protests.^[61]

On 21 December, hundreds of thousands of mourners and the Iranian Green Movement turned out at Montazeri’s funeral and turned it into a protest against the government. The funeral began at his house and prayers were held at the Grand Mosque in Qom.^[62] After special prayers by Ayatollah Mousa Shabiri Zanjani,^[63] Montazeri’s body was laid to rest in the Fatima Masumeh Shrine.^[64] He was buried alongside his son, Mohammad.^[65][66]

As the funeral procession ended, security forces poured into the city, blocking roads to the Ayatollah’s house and tearing down posters of him. Mourners were reported to have thrown stones at police, who tried to stop them chanting pro-Montazeri slogans. Mourners responded defiantly when ordered by loudspeaker not to chant, breaking into shouts of “Ya Hossein, Mir Hossein” in support of him. When a crowd of pro-government supporters chanted back: “I will give my life for the supreme leader,” they were booed by mourners, a witness said.^[54] The security forces prevented the Ayatollah’s family from holding a memorial ceremony in the grand mosque of Qom following the funeral.^[67]

According to journalist Christopher de Bellaigue, Montazeri was regarded as “brilliant” by his allies, and even his opponents; de Bellaigue added that Montazeri “lives plainly, and equates Islam with social justice”. Montazeri’s detractors portrayed him as stubborn and naïve in his insistence that the Islamic republic find reconciliation with the “hypocrites” and “liberals” who are its “internal enemies.”^[10]

In 1980s, Montazeri was known by the pejorative nickname Gorbeh Nareh (Persian: گربه‌نره, the masculine cat) after the Cat, a character in the Pinocchio animated series. According to Elaine Sciolino, this was due to his “poor public speaking skills, squeaky voice, round face and grizzled beard”.^[68]

On 4 September 1942, Montazeri married Mah-Sultan Rabbani (1926 – 26 March 2010) and had seven children, four daughters and three sons.^[69] One of his sons, Mohammad Montazeri, died in a bomb blast at Islamic Republican Party headquarters in 1981 which was carried out by the People’s Mujahedin of Iran; another, Saeed Montazeri, lost an eye in the Iran-Iraq war in 1985. Another son, Ahmad Montazeri, is a cleric in Qom; during the 1970s Ahmad underwent military training in Fatah camps in Lebanon.^[70] The brother of Montazeri’s son-in-law, Mehdi Hashemi, was sentenced to death and executed after the 1979 revolution due to his alleged involvement in the murder of Ayatollah Abul Hassan Shams Abadi, who had been a critic of Montazeri, in Isfahan.^[26]

He was described by Ayatollah Mohammad Guilani as “meticulous about, if not obsessed by, cleanliness.”^[27]

During the 2025–2026 Iranian protests, the daughter and granddaughter of Montazeri’s grandson were arrested.^[71]

• Ruhollah Khomeini
• Seyed Reza Bahaadini

• Dorri Najaf Abadi, Ghorban-Ali (2005). “8”. In Nazari, Heydar (ed.). Khaterat e Hojat-ol-eslam val-moslemin Dorri Najaf Abadi (1st ed.). Tehran: IDRC (Iran Revolution Document Center). pp. 232–233. Archived from the original on 25 March 2007.
• Keddie, Nikki (2003). Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution. Yale University Press.
• Mackey, Sandra (1996). The Iranians: Persia, Islam and the Soul of a Nation. Dutton.
• Moin, Baqer (2000). Khomeini: Life of the Ayatollah. Thomas Dunne Books.
• Montazeri, Hossein-Ali (2000). “8”. Khaterat. pp. 471–480. Archived from the original on 7 February 2006.

• Office of Ayatollah Montazeri, Qom
• “Leadership & legitimacy: The controversy among the clergy over who should lead the Islamic state”—The Iranian
• “Iran’s fatwa for freedom”—Washington Times
• Grand Ayatollah Montazeri: “The System Has No Religious Merit”
• “The Good Ayatollah” by Prof. Abbas Milani, Foreign Policy

Assembly seats
New office	Chairman of Assembly of Experts for Constitution 1979	Office abolished
Political offices
New office	Deputy Supreme Leader of Iran 1985–1989	Office abolished
Religious titles
Preceded by Mahmoud Taleghani	Friday prayers Imam of Tehran 1979–1980	Succeeded by Ali Khamenei