Khamenei's fatwa against nukes: Did Iran sell a lie to the world?

"When preserving Muslim blood becomes obligatory for everyone, if preserving the life of one Muslim depends on you, even lying becomes obligatory for you," said the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. This willingness to lie in times of threat and danger is seen by many as an intrinsic part of the Islamic Republic's strategy. That same obfuscation has shaped Iran's decades-long nuclear narrative, toggling between a claimed religious restraint and strategic aggression, centred around one claim: a "fatwa" or a religious decree by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei banning nuclear weapons.advertisementAt the heart of this narrative is a claim by a top Iranian official, who went on to become its president."The idea struck me to introduce the concept of a fatwa during the 2004 nuclear negotiations. There was no prior coordination," recalled Hassan Rouhani, then Iran's then-chief nuclear negotiator, in a 2012 interview with the BBC. He was the cleric who later served two terms as Iran's president from 2013 to 2021.
Later, speaking to the Iranian magazine Mehrnameh, Rouhani described how, during talks with the foreign ministers of France, Germany, and the UK, he said, "The Supreme Leader has issued a fatwa declaring the acquisition of a nuclear bomb forbidden. This fatwa is more important to us than the NPT or any additional protocol. It matters more than any law."advertisementThis was 2004, and Iran was under scrutiny over its nuclear programme, which it claims is for peaceful, civilian use.With the US invading Saddam Hussein's Iraq over its alleged stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in 2003, the heat was on Iran. The Islamic Republic's two undeclared nuclear facilities were also revealed by an Iranian opposition group.Since then, the "Khamenei fatwa" has become a central diplomatic tool wielded by Iran at nuclear talks, invoked to signal moral clarity while maintaining strategic opacity.It's yesterday once again -- after over two decades.The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Britain are likely to hold nuclear talks with their Iranian counterpart on Friday (June 20) in Geneva, Reuters reported, quoting a German diplomatic source.The meeting will come as the Israel-Iran conflict enters its second week.On June 13, Israel launched "Operation Rising Lion", a coordinated strike targeting Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure across multiple cities, including Tehran, Natanz, Shiraz, Kermanshah, and Esfahan. Iran retaliated with more than 400 missiles. Some evaded Israel's Iron Dome and caused civilian fatalities.Iran has been secretive about its nuclear facility in Dimona too. Combined with Iran's threats to annihilate Israel, its nuclear programme has been seen suspiciously by the West.advertisementHowever, Iran has claimed its right to civilian nuclear energy, and has time and again referred to the fatwa to claim that it would never go for nuclear-grade uranium enrichment.What has been referred to as the fatwa are remarks by Khamenei. It's technically not a fatwa, but Iranians say since the advice was from the Supreme Leader, it should be considered so."Fatwas can change," warned Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran expert and former seminarian. "Khamenei can easily issue another one."So, is the Khamenei fatwa more of a political valve than a theological wall?IRAN'S DIPLOMACY ON N-PROGRAMME AND THE FATWAThe turning point came in 2002, when the exiled opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) publicly revealed that the country had two undeclared nuclear facilities in Natanz and Arak.The disclosures were confirmed by satellite imagery and later by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspections, which uncovered advanced uranium enrichment activities and heavy water production, sparking international fears that Iran's nuclear programme was not strictly civilian.With tensions mounting, the regime moved to craft a moral defence.In late 2003, amid the early phase of the nuclear standoff, Khamenei declared that the production and use of nuclear weapons were haram (forbidden).advertisementIn October 2003, under growing global pressure, Khamenei gave a speech declaring weapons of mass destruction forbidden."We don't want a nuclear bomb These things don't agree with our principles."This was a calculated move to present Iran's nuclear posture as rooted in morality.This coincided with the US invasion of Iraq, which heightened Iranian fears of becoming Washington's next target.Tehran responded by projecting religious restraint: a deliberate attempt to frame its position not as a result of geopolitical pressure, but of Islamic principles.Rouhani, in 2004, presented those remarks as Khamenei's fatwa.Then, in August 2005, Iran formally cited the fatwa at an IAEA meeting in Vienna, claiming Islamic teachings prohibited such weapons.The fatwa was never an irreversible decree. Instead, it was a result of political expediency, most notably a 2010 message where Khamenei called the use of nuclear weapons haram but said nothing about building or storing them.WHAT EXACTLY IS THE KHAMENEI FATWA?What Iranian diplomats later hailed as a "fatwa" began as the final paragraph of a 2010 message Khamenei sent to a Tehran disarmament conference. This was not a formal religious ruling, but a political statement repurposed as theology, according to a report by an American think-tank, the Atlantic Council.advertisementThe portion of that message, promoted by Iranian diplomatic missions as a binding fatwa, reads:"We believe that adding to nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical weapons and biological weapons, are a serious threat to humanity. The Iranian nation, which itself is a victim of the use of chemical weapons, feels more than other nations the danger of the production and accumulation of such weapons and is ready to put all its resources in the way of dealing with it. We consider the use of these weapons to be haram (forbidden), and the effort to protect mankind from this great disaster is everyone's duty."Though framed as a definitive religious decree, this statement was part of a broader diplomatic message.Nonetheless, Iranian embassies abroad repeatedly marketed it as such, turning it into a central piece of Iran's diplomatic arsenal during nuclear talks.According to the Foreign Policy magazine, Khamenei actually issued an anti-nuclear fatwa in the mid-1990s upon a request for his religious opinion on nuclear weapons. It says the Khamenei letter was never made public as then Iran President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani argued against nuclear weapons, and the fatwa's publicity was deemed unnecessary then.advertisementRELIGIOUS FATWA AND RATIONAL FATWA: KHAMENEIThe Supreme Leader's official website has multiple pages dedicated to his views on nuclear weapons, including a list of 85 statements he's made on the subject.Out of those, the word haram appears only three times, and always in reference to the use of nuclear weapons, never their production or storage. He has, in two cases, also described the use of weapons of mass destruction as a "great sin".The only instance in which Khamenei explicitly used the word "fatwa" appears in a 2015 speech:"We don't want a nuclear weapon. Not because of what they say, but because of ourselves, because of our religion, because of our rational reasons. This is both our religious fatwa and our rational fatwa. Our rational fatwa is that we don't need nuclear weapons today, tomorrow, or ever. Nuclear weapons are a source of trouble for a country like ours."Under Sharia, actions are ranked from obligatory to forbidden.Khamenei has never labelled the production of nuclear weapons as haram — only the use, and even that rarely.This vagueness is strategic, say some experts. It lets Iran look peaceful while keeping the door open. For hardliners, it's enough to justify moving forward.Shia fatwas are flexible by design. In the 1890s, a tobacco-ban fatwa sparked a revolt, then quietly disappeared once it served its purpose.Political observers argue that Khamenei's "fatwa" is the same — a political signal, not a religious block, meant to calm the world, not limit Iran.WHO BELIEVED IN IRAN'S NUCLEAR FATWA?For years, Iran's nuclear fatwa drew little notice.But between 2013 and 2015, as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) talks intensified, it became central to Tehran's diplomatic messaging. Iranian officials pushed it hard, and soon US diplomats and media echoed the claim that Iran was religiously bound to avoid nuclear weapons.This was no accident. As revealed in diplomat-academic Javad Zarif's memoir The Undisclosed Secret, the fatwa was a calculated tool, used to boost Iran's credibility and ease Western fears.The strategy worked.In 2014, US Secretary of State John Kerry said: "I have great respect for a fatwa. A fatwa is a very highly regarded message of religious importance. And when any fatwa is issued, I think people take it seriously, and so do we, even though it's not our practice... President Obama and I both are extremely welcoming and grateful for the fact that the supreme leader has issued a fatwa", according to Iran International.In the next few years, Iran shifted from nuclear restraint under the JCPOA to renewed defiance after the US exited the deal in 2018.In May 2018, President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the JCPOA, calling it a "disastrous deal." He argued it failed to address Iran's missile programme, had weak enforcement, and gave Tehran sanctions relief without stopping its regional aggression or long-term nuclear potential.Here on, Iran gradually ramped up its nuclear activity, enriching uranium beyond the deal's limits, installing advanced centrifuges, and restricting access to international inspectors.The economic pressure fuelled domestic unrest, and by 2020, following events like the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and the assassination of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, Iran's posture grew more defiant, signalling a shift away from earlier restraint.NUCLEAR CAPABILITY OF 'CORNERED CAT' IRANIranian officials have hinted for years that the religious prohibition could disappear if the state is threatened.In 2021, Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi warned, "The Supreme Leader has explicitly said [nuclear weapons] are religiously forbidden. But a cornered cat may behave differently." If the West pushed Iran too far, he suggested, Iran might have no choice, according to a New York Times report.That posture hardened further in 2023. Khamenei warned that world powers "cannot stop" Iran if it chooses to build a bomb.Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, claimed all technical components were in place.In March 2024, cleric Mohammad Fuker Meibodi argued the Quran "commands Muslims to possess weapons that instil fear in enemies", hinting that nuclear arms now fit that command, according to the report by the Atlantic Council.Mahmoud Reza Aghamiri, a nuclear scientist close to Khamenei's office, declared in 2022 that Iran could enrich to 99% and build a nuclear warhead "like North Korea".Two years later, he said Iran "has the capability" to build the bomb and that "the supreme leader could tomorrow change his stance".The rhetoric intensified even more after April 2024, when Iran conducted missile and drone strikes on Israel. Within days, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) nuclear security chief Ahmad Haghtalab warned of a potential doctrinal shift if Israel targeted Iran's nuclear infrastructure.The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) broadcast his remarks in full.On April 20, 2024, the reformist Hammihan daily declared that proxy warfare had run its course, and Iran now needed deterrence, possibly through nuclear ambiguity or even armament.IS THERE AN ACTUAL NUCLEAR THREAT FROM IRAN?Just days later, IRGC officer and MP Javad Karimi Ghodousi claimed Iran could test a bomb within a week "if [the supreme leader] issues permission".On April 23, he went further, saying a warhead could be assembled in half a day. The Foreign Ministry scrambled to contain the fallout, with spokesperson Naser Kanani insisting nuclear weapons "have no place" in Iran's strategy.Finally, in May 2024, Kamal Kharrazi, top adviser to Supreme Leader Khamenei, reinforced the ambiguity.In an interview with Al Jazeera, he said, "We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran's existence be threatened, there will have no choice but to change our military doctrine."Throughout late 2024 and early 2025, Iran steadily enriched uranium to 60% at Fordow and Natanz using advanced centrifuges, accumulating a stockpile sufficient for multiple warheads, according to the Arms Control Association.Though it claimed peaceful intent under the NPT, officials began alluding to "special measures", a veiled reference to weaponisation or relocating stockpiles.By May 2025, the IAEA reported Iran had amassed enough 60% enriched uranium for nine bombs and, for the first time in two decades, declared Tehran non-compliant with safeguards, according to a BBC report.On June 12, the IAEA formally cited Iran for the breach. Tehran responded by announcing a new enrichment facility, likely fortified and concealed, though nominally under IAEA oversight.A Khamenei fatwa on nuclear weapons might exist, but what is more pertinent for discussion is the purpose why it was publicised later during negotiations, and what was achieved through it.So, the fatwa, it seems, was never a brake on Iran's nuclear ambitions, it was a mere cover. Framed as a moral prohibition, it served as a political tool to ease international pressure while Tehran expanded its nuclear capabilities in the shadows. Now, with officials openly hinting at weaponisation and enrichment levels reaching weapons-grade thresholds, the myth of religious restraint has collapsed. What remains is the reality: the fatwa was not a boundary, but a diplomatic deception. It was a lie used not to prevent a bomb, but to hide it.Tune InMust Watch

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