Iranian clerics declare Trump a ‘muharib’ following remarks on Khamenei, US strikes

NEWSROOM — Several senior clerics from Iran’s Qom seminary have issued religious rulings labeling U.S. President Donald Trump a muharib — a term in Islamic law denoting one who wages war against God and society — following American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Trump’s public criticisms of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The rulings, or fatwas, were issued after public inquiries into the religious response to Trump’s remarks and Washington’s military actions, which Iran claims were conducted in support of Israel during recent hostilities.

Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi, a prominent religious scholar, issued one of the rulings, which was reported by Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency. Citing Quranic verses, he said the punishment for a muharib may include crucifixion, amputation or exile. Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani issued a similar statement.

“All Muslims around the world must act to deter these enemies and make them regret their wrong statements and actions,” Shirazi wrote. He added that any support for such figures or their governments is religiously prohibited, and praised those who endure hardship in defense of “leadership and religious authority” as “strivers in the path of God.”

On June 17, Trump said that during the Israel-Iran conflict, he knew Khamenei’s exact location and chose not to authorize a strike that could have killed him. “I saved him from a very ugly and ignominious death,” Trump said.

He also dismissed Khamenei’s post-conflict declarations of victory, saying, “Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’… say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the war with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie?”

Iranian clerics responded by invoking Islamic legal concepts to condemn both Trump’s comments and broader Western support for Israel, framing the statements as blasphemous and inciting aggression against the Islamic Republic’s leadership.