Several different dates have been given by Iranian officials for the fatwa banning nuclear weapons—Hassan Rouhani claimed in May 2012 before becoming Iran’s president that it was issued in 2004. A sermon delivered by Iran’s Supreme Leader at Tehran University in November 2004 is cited. But in that sermon Khamenei actually didn’t say possessing or using nuclear weapons was “prohibited,” only “problematic.”
Khamenei did issue a letter to a 2010 international nuclear disarmament conference saying nuclear weapons are haram and later that was referenced as a “new fatwa” on his official website. He even tweeted it. But Iranian legal scholars say this is problematic as it breaks convention on the formatting and content requirements for a fatwa under Islamic jurisprudence, which involves a question being asked of a religious authority and the answer being provided citing Islamic religious sources.
Writing on the BBC Persian website last year, Iranian law expert Bahman Aghai Diba argued: “The fatwa banning nuclear weapons by Iran’s Supreme Leader remains shrouded in a fog.” And he notes that unlike any other Khamenei fatwa the text of this highly important (claimed) one is not actually provided on any official website “nor in any of the numerous collections of the Supreme Leader’s publications.” With its provenance and authenticity in doubt it remains non-binding.
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