Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani, the first secretary of the Guardian Council, has passed away.

The Islamic Republic News Agency, IRNA, reported on Monday evening, citing informed sources, the passing of Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, the first secretary of the Guardian Council and one of the Shiite religious authorities.

The report states that the cause of death of Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani was cardiac arrest and says that this incident occurred after a period of illness.

Mr. Safi Golpayegani's latest comments about the situation in Iran and the Islamic Republic's foreign policy have caused controversy.

In a meeting with Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in early November of this year, this religious authority criticized the high cost of goods in the country and said that "one of the ways to improve matters" is Iran's relations with all countries in the world and that "being at odds with many countries is not right and is detrimental to our beloved people."

These remarks prompted a reaction from some fundamentalist media outlets, including the Rajanews website, which described his statements as "political imitation of secular forces" and "reprehensible and completely false."

Ayatollah Safi Golpayegani, on the other hand, has repeatedly defended policies that restrict women, such as preventing them from attending stadiums and even not sending Iranian female athletes to sporting events abroad.

A few years ago, he called sending Iranian female athletes to the Guangzhou Asian Games "shameful," and he has also always emphasized gender segregation in universities.

Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani held this position as the first Secretary of the Guardian Council from December 1970 to July 1988. He was also present in the Assembly of Experts that drafted the Constitution of the Islamic Republic.

Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani was born on February 20, 1988, and was on the verge of turning 103.

Source: Radio Farda