The Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute, which led Mesbah Yazdi, said he had been hospitalized for the past few days with a disease affecting his digestive system.
The prominent cleric was instrumental in the 1979 uprising that overthrew Iran’s west-backed shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, according to Iran’s state-run Press TV.
Mesbah Yazdi was seen as a hardliner and anti-West in general, including anti-American positions. An outspoken critic of a liberal press, he was known for ratifying the crackdown on domestic opposition, feminism and gender equality.
According to regional experts, he was a spiritual mentor to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president who served from 2005 to 2013.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed condolences on Mesbah Yazdi’s death, according to Press TV, which reported that Mesbah Yazdi was 85 years old.
Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said Mesbah Yazdi was close to the country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mesbah Yazdi was a member of the Assembly of Experts – the body responsible for choosing and monitoring the achievements of Iran’s supreme leader – and of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Press TV reported.