Iran’s top Shiite cleric issued a religious decree called a fatwa on Sunday calling for violence against President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose nations targeted Iran’s nuclear capabilities this month.
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, who has ties to the Iranian regime, likened Trump and Netanyahu to “enemies of God” and advocated their destruction. The cleric also said Muslims around the world should unite in opposing any Western leaders who threaten to kill Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or the country’s religious authorities.
“Those who threaten the leadership and integrity of the Islamic Ummah [the global community of Muslims] are to be considered warlords,” Shirazi said. Under Iranian law, the warlord designation comes with severe punishments such as execution, crucifixion, limb amputation, or exile.
A fatwa is a religious ruling issued by a cleric on how to interpret Islamic law.
Grand Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamedani issued a separate but similar fatwa against threats to the Iranian regime.
The declarations come after a 12-day conflict between Iran and Israel that ended with a swift American military operation that severely damaged or destroyed three Iranian nuclear sites. A fragile ceasefire, announced by Trump last week, followed.
Despite Trump’s decisive efforts to secure peace in the Middle East, Iran’s religious leaders are threatening his life. Khamenei, 86, reportedly remains in hiding underground.
On Friday, Trump boasted he saved Khamenei from a “very ugly and ignominious death” and that Iran “got beat to hell.” The president previously threatened that the United States could easily assassinate Khamenei, saying his administration knew where the Iranian supreme leader was hiding.
Iran has issued fatwas calling for violence against people critical of its regime or otherwise offensive to Muslims.
Perhaps the most well-known example is Indian British author Salman Rushdie, who was the subject of a fatwa issued by former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. The ruling, which called for Rushdie’s assassination, stemmed from his novel The Satanic Verses. It was considered blasphemous against Islam due to its depiction of Muhammad.
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The fatwa also put Rushdie’s publishers and other associates in Iran’s crosshairs, with multiple facing threats and attacks. The ruling also led to the death of a Japanese translator in 1991.
Rushdie himself experienced several assassination attempts, including one in August 2022. An upstate New York stabbing left the novelist with a blind eye and an incapacitated hand.