Iranian Cleric Issues Religious Edict Targeting Trump and Netanyahu Amid Escalating Tensions
On Sunday, Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a leading Shiite cleric in Iran, issued a religious edict — or fatwa — denouncing former U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The decree, which some international analysts have described as a call to religiously motivated violence, accuses both leaders of threatening the unity and authority of the global Islamic community, or Ummah.
According to a report by the New York Sun, the fatwa labels any individual or government that disrupts Islamic solidarity as a “mohareb” — an enemy of God — a term in Iranian law that can carry severe penalties including execution, amputation, or exile.
“Those who endanger the leadership and coherence of the Islamic Ummah are to be seen as warlords,” Makarem declared, invoking theological terminology historically used to justify harsh punishment. He concluded with a plea for divine intervention and the return of the Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer in Shiite Islam.
The pronouncement drew sharp criticism from human rights observers and international commentators. British-Iranian analyst Niyak Ghorbani condemned the edict via his X (formerly Twitter) account, branding it a government-sanctioned appeal for global jihad. “This isn’t just about internal repression,” he warned. “It signals an international agenda of violence under religious pretense.”
The timing of the fatwa coincides with rising hostilities between Iran, Israel, and the United States following the so-called “12-Day War.” That conflict saw targeted Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military infrastructure on June 13, reportedly killing high-ranking personnel. Iran retaliated with missile attacks on Israeli cities, prompting U.S. airstrikes on three Iranian nuclear sites days later.
Earlier, Trump had vowed serious consequences if Iran enriched uranium to weapons-grade levels, a warning that followed the collapse of a brief ceasefire during the conflict.
Iran has a precedent for issuing controversial religious rulings with global ramifications. The most infamous case remains the 1989 fatwa against author Salman Rushdie for his novel The Satanic Verses, which led to multiple violent attacks, including a 2023 stabbing in New York that left Rushdie permanently injured.
Critics warn that the latest decree from Makarem could mark a similar escalation, with possible real-world consequences beyond Iran’s borders.
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