The [Nonexistant] Fatwa Banning Nuclear Weapons

Against the backdrop of reports about U.S.-Iran understandings being drawn up for a freeze on the status quo regarding Iran's nuclear program – that is, Western consent to Iran enriching uranium to 60% and storing it in Iran in exchange for the release of Iranian assets and lifting of sanctions and the possibility of a prisoner exchange  – there is a growing impression that the West believes that such understandings actually will lead to a freeze on the status quo and stability on Iran's nuclear scene.

However, the reality is that Iran has not in any way backed off from its efforts to build nuclear weapons, has taken every opportunity to advance its technological capabilities to this end, and has for years misled the international community and lied about its intentions while at the same time widely publicizing its goal to legitimately attain nuclear-threshold status, and continues doing so to this day.

Khamenei's June 11, 2023 speech on nuclear weapons stated: "The transformation of [Iran's] nuclear industry into one based on domestic production is very important, and teaches us about the failure of the West... The nuclear industry is one of the fundamental elements of Iran's strength and prestige... The West's claim regarding [its] 'fear of the production of nuclear weapons [in Iran]' is a false one. They themselves know that we are not pursuing nuclear weapons, since the American intelligence community has repeatedly acknowledged the fact, including in recent months, that there is no sign of an Iranian move towards building a nuclear weapon.

"If it were not an Islamic principle, and if we had the will to build nuclear weapons, we would do so. Even the enemies know that they cannot stop us. Producing weapons of mass destruction (whether nuclear or chemical) is against Islam."

It should be emphasized yet again that Khamenei's fatwa banning nuclear weapons that regime officials have repeatedly cited was never published and does not exist. [A Fatwa is a ruling on a point of Islamic law given by a recognized authority. Noted examples include the Fatwa against Salman Rushdie which ordered Muslims around the world to kill Rushdie.]

Even the 2022 book by Professor Seyed Hossein Mousavian of Princeton University and Dr. Shameer Modongal of Kerala University – Religion and Nuclear Weapons, A Study of Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan (Vij Books India Pvt Ltd, 2022, 120 pp.), presents no evidence as to its existence. MEMRI Daily Brief No. 433, Khamenei's "Nuclear Fatwa," Once Again, published November 29, 2022, analyzes in detail how the Iranian leadership is using the false claim of a fatwa attributed to Khamenei.

The fact is that no declaration by Khamenei against possessing nuclear weapons was published on either of his two official fatwa websites. Furthermore, Khamenei even ruled, as part of his jurisdiction, on March 15, 2012 in response to a question that had been submitted via Facebook concerning whether it is permitted to possess nuclear weapons, in light of his alleged declaration that this is forbidden. He ruled: "Your letter has no jurisprudential aspect. When it has a jurisprudential position, then it will be possible to answer it." He concluded the exchange with a statement in the official structure of a fatwa: "No answer was given."

https://www.memri.org/reports/iranian-supreme-leader-ali-khamenei-if-it-were-not-islamic-principle-and-if-we-had-will