Iran’s top Shia cleric has died after an illness. He was 80.

An official at Khatam al-Anbia hospital in Tehran, where Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Abbas Hoseini Kashani was being treated, confirmed his death on Sunday. He spoke on condition of anonymity, pending an official announcement.

Grand Ayatollah Kashani was in Qom’s Valiye Asr hospital for four weeks and after that he was transferred to Khatam al-Anbia hospital in Tehran but his condition deteriorated; and consequently a heart-attack led to an internal hemorrhage.