Former Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Larijani, a former top judiciary official and adviser to the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warned that millions of Muslims support a fatwa declaring President Donald Trump a “muhareb” — a supreme heretic and enemy of God — over what he called Trump’s vulgar threats against Iran’s leadership, declaring ominously that “it is possible that some Muslim will do the job,” with Iranian law mandating that anyone labeled a muhareb is subject to the death penalty.
In a fiery Saturday interview aired on Iran’s IRINN TV, Larijani said the fatwa, or Islamic religious decree, was a methodical response by Iranian scholars to what he described as Trump’s offensive behavior toward the Islamic Republic’s senior clerics and Supreme Leader.
“One of the deterrent factors is the fatwas issued by our Islamic scholars, in response to the insolence [shown] towards our Islamic scholars and the Leader,” Larijani said. “Look, the idiot running some government has used some really vulgar language. He seriously hurt our Great Leader’s honor and even threatened him. Our Islamic scholars were accurate and methodical in issuing a fatwa, designating him a muhareb [enemy of God].”
He added: “The [Americans] know what muhareb means. Millions of people support this fatwa. We do not need to do anything. Our Islamic scholars issued a fatwa that is supported by millions of Muslims, and they should know that it is possible that some Muslim will do the job,” he warned.
The label of muhareb, according to Islamic tradition, signifies someone who wages war against Allah a supreme blasphemer and heretic. Under Iranian law, muharebs are subject to severe punishments, including torture and execution.
The escalation follows an intensifying pattern of clerical incitement. Just last week, Iranian state media highlighted a letter signed by more than 100 Islamic scholars branding Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “enemies waging war against God and His Messenger.” The letter denounced any collaboration or normalization with the U.S. or Israel as religiously forbidden.
Last week, at Tehran’s Friday prayers, hardline cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami led chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” escalating the rhetoric by explicitly calling for the execution of both Trump and Netanyahu, declaring, “You are murderers, you need to be punished,” before adding, “The ruling regarding Trump and Netanyahu, according to sharia, is that the pair of them should be executed.”
The most recent campaign of clerical vengeance was initially set in motion when Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, one of Iran’s top Shiite clerics, issued a religious fatwa shortly after the conclusion of the 12-Day War — a move that preceded the other clerical declarations and helped set the stage for the subsequent wave of threats. It declared Trump a warrior against Allah, a muhareb, which Islam defines as a supreme heretic and blasphemer, someone who wages war against Allah. The fatwa declared, “It is necessary for all Muslims across the world to recognize these enemies and avenge them with strength and fury. If they are not punished severely, the reward for jihadi retaliation is with Allah. This is certain.”
A second fatwa followed a day later from Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani, echoing the same militant tone and warning that those who cooperate with the United States or Israel would face lethal consequences.
In tandem with the clerical calls, an Iranian-linked group calling itself the “Blood Covenant” launched a crowdfunding campaign offering a $40 million bounty for Trump’s assassination. According to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), the campaign includes jihadist appeals and Qur’anic justification for violence, calling on Muslims to donate money and offer their lives in service of the fatwa.
“The poster lends religious legitimacy to assassinating Trump,” MEMRI noted, describing the campaign as a regime-backed initiative fully embedded in Iranian society.
The bounty campaign reportedly surged after the June 29 fatwa by Ayatollah Shirazi, who accused Trump of attempting to assassinate Supreme Leader Khamenei and branded him an “enemy of Allah.”
Iranian officials and clerics have long vowed revenge for the U.S. drone strike in 2020 that killed IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani. Trump defended the operation, citing Soleimani’s role in attacks that killed and wounded hundreds of Americans and his ongoing plans for further violence.
At Soleimani’s funeral, a cleric proposed that 80 million Iranians contribute one dollar each to fund an $80 million bounty for Trump’s death. The current $40 million campaign appears to be a continuation of that effort, now reinforced with broader clerical and ideological backing.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that he had “left instructions” to wipe out Iran if the regime attempted to kill him, as they had reportedly been trying to do — a stark response to the regime’s increasingly open threats, which continue to raise serious concerns in Washington about how to address a coordinated campaign of state-sponsored incitement, clerical edicts, and assassination plots targeting Trump administration officials.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.
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