'Nuclear Weapons Is Incompatible With Islam': When Iran's Khamenei Issued Historical Fatwa Against Developing Nukes

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who assembled theocratic power in Iran over the decades as its top leader and sought to turn it into a regional powerhouse, was killed in US and Israeli strikes on Sunday after a failed discussion on Iran's nuclear capabilities. He was 86.

Iranian state media reported the death early Sunday, after a major attack launched by Israel and the United States. US President Donald Trump said hours earlier that Khamenei had been killed in the joint operation.

Who was Ayatollah Ali Khamenei?

Khamenei dramatically remoulded the Islamic Republic since he took the reins after the death of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989. Khomeini was the fiery, charismatic ideologue who led the overthrow of the Shah and installed rule by Shiite Muslim clerics tasked with spreading religious purity. It fell to Khamenei, a stodgier figure with weaker religious credentials and a leaden demeanour, to turn that revolutionary vision into a state establishment.

When Iran had rejected nukes

A decade-old media report suggests Tehran had rejected nuclear weapons in 80’s, saying it is “incompatible with Islam”. According to a report published in Foreign Policy in 2014, Iran argued it rejected nuclear weapons and cites a fatwa of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as proof. However, the claims were never trusted by American and European officials. They always contested that Tehran is not governed totally on the basis of Shiite principles. They have relied instead on murky intelligence that has never been confirmed about an alleged covert Iranian nuclear weapons program.

When Iraq used chemical weapons against Iranian soldiers

During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Iraq extensively used chemical weapons against Iranian forces and civilians, killing around 20,000 and injuring over 1,00,000. Despite severe suffering, Iran never retaliated with chemical weapons and avoided pursuing nuclear weapons, a restraint rooted in a religious prohibition from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Mohsen Rafighdoost, wartime minister of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for military procurement, provided a key eyewitness account. In 1984, amid escalating Iraqi chemical attacks, including mustard gas and tabun, Rafighdoost proposed developing chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons to Khomeini.

What Iranian Supreme Leader said about the idea of nukes

The supreme leader rejected the idea outright, declaring such weapons of mass destruction forbidden "haram" under Islam.

Instead, he ordered focus on defensive measures like gas masks and atropine, and redirected nuclear scientists to Iran's civilian Atomic Energy Organisation, explicitly stating, “We don’t want to produce nuclear weapons.”

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In 1987, after Iraq bombed the Kurdish city of Sardasht with mustard gas, exposing 8,000 civilians and killing hundreds, public pressure mounted for retaliation. Rafighdoost secretly initiated production of mustard gas precursors, sulfur mustard and nitrogen mustard with the Defence Ministry, beginning in September 1987. However, he later informed Khomeini of this capability and sought approval.

What is the difference between Saddam and me?

Khomeini remained firm: it made no difference whether attacks targeted battlefields or cities; producing such weapons was "haram". He rhetorically asked, “If we produce chemical weapons, what is the difference between Saddam and me?” He reiterated the ban on nuclear weapons, saying, “Don’t talk about nuclear weapons at all.”

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This verbal edict functioned as a binding fatwa from the “guardian jurist,” halting the chemical program. Production ceased, facilities were sealed in 1988, and equipment dismantled by 1992. Iran never weaponised the agents. Rafighdoost’s account, corroborated by a 2004 Iranian disclosure to the OPCW (later WikiLeaks), suggests Iran’s leadership has a deep, sincere religious aversion to chemical and nuclear weapons, shaped by Khomeini’s rulings during the war.

However, in recent times, multiple reports suggest the Iranian regime is building nuclear facilities-- a claim Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been claiming for the past three decades. But neither Israel nor the US presented a true picture of Iran’s nuclear weapons that could harm America and Jerusalem.

(With inputs from agency)

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