By Sean Rayment
A religious fatwa has been issued by one of Iran’s most senior Shia clerics, targeting former US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the decree, Trump and anyone else who threatens to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader are “waging war against God” and should be punished by death.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said “any person or regime that threatens the leadership and religious authority” is considered a mohareb – one who wages war against God – under Islamic law.
The cleric, speaking in Iran, declared that any co-operation with such individuals or regimes by Muslims or Islamic governments was religiously forbidden and the crime punishable by death.
The ruling was published following a formal inquiry on how Muslims should respond to threats against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Shia religious authorities.
On 17 June, the US president said he knew where Ayatollah Khamenei was but wouldn’t target him – “at least not for now”.
Muslims making representations to the cleric asked what the ruling was on threatening religious authority and Islamic leadership, and what Muslims’ duties would be if “this act is carried out by the US government or anyone else”.
“In recent days, we have witnessed that the US president and leaders of the Zionist regime have repeatedly threatened to assassinate the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and some scholars and religious authorities,” they said.
Mr Makarem Shirazi is one of Iran’s most senior religious authorities and is a source of theological guidance for millions of Shia Muslims globally.
He called on Muslims worldwide to “make these enemies regret their words and mistakes.”
“If they suffer hardship or loss, they will have the reward of a mujahid in the path of Allah, inshallah,” Makarem Shirazi wrote, promising divine reward for those who act against perceived enemies of Islamic leadership.
His rulings carry significant weight within Iran’s theocratic system and among Shia communities internationally.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi called on Muslims worldwide to ‘make these enemies regret their words and mistakes’
Analysts believe the fatwa could intensify a crackdown on domestic dissidents, as many Iranians are critical of the Supreme Leader.
The broad language of the ruling could give the judiciary power to execute critics of Khamenei by classifying their opposition as “waging war against God.”
At least 700 people have been arrested over the past few days on charges of spying for Israel.
Under traditional Islamic jurisprudence, the charge of mohareb historically applied to armed rebellion against Islamic authority and carries the death penalty.
The ruling effectively brands anyone threatening Iran’s leadership as subject to execution under religious law and calls for Muslims globally to kill the person behind threats.
Iranian clerics have previously issued similar edicts against perceived enemies of the Islamic Republic, including the 1989 fatwa by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for the death of Salman Rushdie, the British author, over The Satanic Verses, his 1988 novel.
Mr Rushdie was blinded in his right eye during a knife attack in 2022. Hadi Matar, 27, who authorities believe was responding to the fatwa, was jailed for 25 years.
The new fatwa was declared amid escalating tensions between Iran and both the United States and Israel following a 12-day war that ended with a fragile ceasefire.
Mr Trump said he is not speaking to Iran and has offered them “nothing”, following reports that the US is mulling helping the country access as much as $30 billion (£22 billion) to build a civilian nuclear energy programme.
