A religious decree or fatwa issued by two senior Iranian clerics calling for the killing of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly gained support from about 10 other clerics and attracted alleged fundraising online.
The ten state-appointed clerics issued an open letter on Monday referring to US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister as "infidel combatants", an Islamic legal term for a non-believer at war with Muslims who deserves death.
In a speech delivered in Azeri, another state-appointed cleric in Iran's West Azarbaijan Province announced a reward of 100 billion tomans (approximately $1.14 million) for anyone who kills Trump.
“We will give 100 billion tomans to anyone who brings the head of Trump,” said Mansour Emami, the provincial director of the official Islamic Propagation Organization in West Azerbaijan.
An Iranian website, thaar.ir, alleged that it was running a public campaign to solicit money for the assassination of Trump. The site most recently displayed more than $20 million raised.
There was no immediate confirmation of the authenticity of the figure.
During an interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson aired on Monday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian distanced the Iranian government from the religious decrees, saying that they are not directed at any specific person.
“To the best of my knowledge, they have not issued decrees or fatwas against any individual or against Donald Trump. It has nothing to do with the Iranian government or the Supreme Leader of Iran,” Pezeshkian said.
Last month, Alireza Panahian, a hardline Iranian cleric close to the Supreme Leader, called on Muslims to kill Trump and Netanyahu in retaliation for their threats on the life of Khamenei during a 12-day war.
Panahian cited fatwas labeling those who made such a threat a “mohareb,” or enemy of God.
Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi and Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani had previously issued separate fatwas against Trump and Netanyahu. In his statement, Shirazi declared:
“Any regime or individual threatening the leaders of the Islamic Ummah (nation) and acting on those threats qualifies as a mohareb.”
Ahmad Alamolhoda, Khamenei’s representative in Iran's Razavi Khorasan Province, on Monday expressed support for the two clerics' fatwa.
“Labeling those who insult or violate the sanctity of the Supreme Leader as apostates and enemies of God will strengthen the foundations of the Islamic Republic and the Revolution," Alamolhoda said.
In 1989, Iran’s former leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against British author Salman Rushdie for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his novel The Satanic Verses.
Despite living under heavy security for decades, Rushdie was stabbed and blinded in one eye by an assailant in New York in 2022—an attack widely linked to Khomeini’s fatwa.
