Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has, in a decree, appointed the chairman, secretary and members of the Expediency Council for a five-year term.

The text of the Leader’s decree is as follows:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

I am grateful to the omniscient and almighty God who, through his assistance and guidance, rendered the Expediency Council successful in discharging its responsibilities, so that this legal institution could play an effective role in running the country in over a quarter of a century. I deem it necessary to thank all members and staff of the institution and commemorate its late members, especially Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was one of the political pillars of the country and shouldered the heavy responsibility of chairing the council for years, and Hojatoleslam Val-Moslemin Tabasi and Mr. Asgaroladi and Hassan Habibi, Ph.D., may Allah bless their souls.

With the commencement of the new term of this institution, given the existing invaluable experiences, it seems necessary to make changes in the structure and substance, which mostly include: 

- Regulating the general policies, revising [their] titles and reviewing the process of determining and formulating them
- Regulating the issue of overseeing the implementation of policies
- [Working out] the necessary mechanism to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of policies
- Creating complete coherence in the organizational and managerial structures and drawing up plans based on approved regulations
- Slimming down the organization and removing parallel and unnecessary sections 

Apart from these, other reformative changes will be necessary and will be introduced on the job thanks to careful attention by the staff and the flexibility of the organization.

Considering the aforementioned, I appoint Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi as the chairman, and Mohsen Rezaee, Ph.D., as the secretary of the Expediency Council and the following natural and legal persons as its members for the new five-year term: 

Legal Persons:
A-    The heads of the three branches of government 
B-    The respected faqihs (Islamic jurists) of the Guardian Council
C-    The chairman of the general staff of the Iranian Armed Forces
D-    The secretary of the Supreme National Security Council
E-    The minister or head of the apparatus to which the issue at hand pertains
F-    The head of the parliament’s committee relevant to the issue 

Natural Persons:
Ayatollahs and Hojatoleslams:
Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Sheikh Ahmad Jannati, Amini Najafabdi, Movahhedi Kermani, Nateq Noori, Sheikh Hassan Sane’ee, Mohseni-Ejei, Mojtahed Shabestari, Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi, Dorri Najafabadi, Mohammdi Araqi, Majid Ansari, Mesbahi Moghaddam.  

And Their Excellencies:
Gholamreza Aqazadeh, Ali Aqamohammadi, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Javad Iravani, Mohammd Reza Bahonar, Ahmad Tavakkoli, Gholamali Haddad-Adel, Davoud Danesh-Ja’afari, Parviz Davoudi, Mohsen Rezaee, Seyyed Mohammad Sadr, Mohammad Hossein Saffar-Harandi Mohammad Reza Aref, Mohammad Forouzandeh, Seyyed Hassan Firouzabadi, Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf, Hossein Mohammadi, Hossein Mozaffar, Seyyed Mostafa Morsalaim, Seyyed Mohammad Mirmohammadi, Seyyed Morteza Nabavi, Aliakbar Velayati, Sadeq Va’ezzadeh, Ahmad Vahidi.   
    
I hereby call on all of the respected individuals [mentioned above] to be present [on the scene] and remain steadfast and careful in identifying expediencies and also to remain righteous, determined and fair, and I ask God Almighty to bestow his blessings and guidance upon me and them all. It is imperative that the issues mentioned in the attachment to this decree be attended to.

Seyyed Ali Khamenei
August 14, 2017