A top Iranian cleric has issued a fatwa against US president Donald Trump, declaring him an ‘enemy of god.’
Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said that both Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu were guilty of ‘mobareb’, the term in Islamic law for waging war against God.
Shirazi added in the fatwa: ‘Any cooperation or support for that enemy by Muslims or Islamic states is haram or forbidden.
‘It is necessary for all Muslims around the world to make these enemies regret their words and mistakes.’
He also said that if a ‘Muslim who abides by his Muslim duty suffer hardship or loss in their campaign, they will be rewarded as a fighter in the way of God, God willing.’
The religious decree came after Israel began a blitz campaign against nuclear, military and civilian sites across Iran, which the US later join, in the so-called 12-day war.
The war, which saw Iran retaliate against Israeli and American military and civilian sites, began as US and Iranian diplomats sat down for talks over the Middle Eastern nation’s nuclear programme.
These talks appear to have ground to a halt, with Trump this morning saying on a post to Truth Social: ‘I am not offering Iran ANYTHING, unlike Obama, who paid them $Billions under the stupid ‘road to a Nuclear Weapon JCPOA (which would now be expired!), nor am I even talking to them since we totally OBLITERATED their Nuclear Facilities.’
And Iran’s deputy foreign minister told the BBC late on Sunday that diplomatic talks would not resume until the US rules out further strikes.
Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the British broadcaster that the US had signalled it wants to return to the negotiating table, a week after it struck three Iranian nuclear facilities.
‘We have not agreed to any date, we have not agreed to the modality,’ said Takht-Ravanchi.
‘Right now we are seeking an answer to this question. Are we going to see a repetition of an act of aggression while we are engaging in dialogue?’
The US needed to be ‘quite clear on this very important question’, he said.
The deputy minister revealed to the BBC that the US had signalled it did ‘not want to engage in regime change’ by targeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Takht-Ravanchi also said Iran should still be allowed to enrich uranium.
‘The level of that can be discussed, the capacity can be discussed, but to say that you should not have enrichment, you should have zero enrichment, and if you do not agree, we will bomb you, that is the law of the jungle,’ he said.
Israel claims that Iran’s nuclear programme is close to producing a bomb, whereas Tehran says it is for peaceful purposes.
It is not clear yet how much damage the strikes inflicted on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Under a 2015 deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium below 3.67 percent purity for fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.
Trump abandoned the agreement in 2018 and Iran responded by producing uranium enriched to 60 percent – above levels for civilian usage but still below weapons grade.
That material, if further refined, would theoretically be sufficient to produce more than nine nuclear bombs.