Association of Combatant Clerics

The Association of Combatant Clerics is an Iranian reformist clerical political party. It is regarded as a left-wing party within the Iranian political spectrum.

History
The Association of Combatant Clerics was founded in 1987 after abolition of the Islamic Republican Party, the last political party of that time. The association was originally radical, populist, rather than reformist in orientation, and favored a focus "on exporting the revolution and calling for the state's monopoly over the economy," rather than democracy and freedom of expression. As of 2007, it advocated limits on clerical power in Iranian politics and extending individual freedoms—though not to the extent that might "lead to secularism or liberalism."

After the resignation of Mehdi Karroubi from the post of secretary general, the party had no secretary general until late August 2005, when Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha was elected as the new secretary general. Former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami is the Chairman of the association's Central Council.

Members
According to Muhammad Sahimi, the party "has a significant number of followers and sympathizers among the younger clerics".

Central council members
28 members of the party's central council are:


 * Mohammad Mousavi Khoeiniha (Secretary-General)
 * Majid Ansari (Speaker)
 * Mohammad Khatami (Head of Council)
 * Mohammad Hashemi
 * Hadi Khamenei
 * Ali Ajam
 * Mohammad-Ali Abtahi
 * Mohammad-Ali Ansari
 * Mohammad Mousavi-Bojnourdi


 * Issa Velayi
 * Mohammad Razavi
 * Seyyed Mohammad Hashemi
 * Ali-Akbar Ashtiani
 * Mohammad-Ali Khosravi
 * Taqi Durchih'i
 * Serajeddin Mousavi
 * Ali Mohammad Dastgheib Shirazi
 * Fazel Ferdosi


 * Ali-Asghar Rahmani Khalili
 * Assadollah Kian-Ersi
 * Mohammad Moghaddam
 * Mojtaba Nourmofidi
 * Mohammad-Ali Nezamzadeh
 * Mehdi Emam-Jamarani
 * Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari
 * Mohammad-Ali Sadoughi
 * Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani

Other members

 * Mehdi Karroubi (former member)
 * Sadegh Khalkhali (deceased)
 * Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur (deceased)
 * Hadi Ghaffari
 * Rasoul Montajabnia
 * Abdollah Nouri
 * Mohammad-Reza Tavassoli (deceased)
 * Hassan Sane'i
 * Mahmoud Doayi
 * Ghodratollah Alikhani
 * Mohammad-Ali Rahmani