BREAKING NEWS

Iranian dissident cleric who almost succeeded Khamenei dies in his sleep

Iranian dissident cleric

Iran's most senior dissident cleric, Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, died in his sleep early on Sunday, according to his grandson Nasser. Montazeri had been designated to succeed Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late founder of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, but the two had a falling out a few months before Khomeini died of cancer in 1989. Iran's current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, succeeded Khomeini instead. Montazeri had repeatedly accused the country's ruling Islamic establishment of imposing dictatorship in the name of Islam.