[caption id="attachment_12550" align="alignright" width="300"] Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad[/caption]
The head of Supervisory Committee for Iran’s Constitution says an institute to conduct research on the country’s constitution will be established with the permission of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mohammad Ali Hejazi said on Sunday that the Supervisory Committee, established by Ahmadinejad’s decree in March, does not pursue political objectives and merely aims at safeguarding the Constitution.

The 11-member committee includes Vice-president Mohammadreza Rahimi, presidential legal advisor Fatemeh Bedaghi, Minister of Justice Morteza Bakhtiyari and the president's parliamentary deputy Mohammadrez Mirtajedini among others.

The president announced that the committee is responsible for supervising adherence to the principles of the constitution, following up on the achievements of the objectives of the constitution, proposing changes to laws and regulations for better adherence to the constitution, identifying cases of violation of the constitution, creating an evaluation process for the implementation of the constitution, planning for public participation in implementing of the constitution, and the promotion of discourse based on the principles, contained within the constitution.”

Hejazi said the Iranian government established the committee despite opposition, adding that the supervisory body merely provides consultation and the final decision is made by the president himself.

Iran’s Guardian Council, which is responsible for ensuring that parliamentary legislations adhere to the principles of the constitution, had announced a few days earlier that the establishment of such a committee was illegal.