Over 400 Senior Clerics in Qom Endorse Death Penalty for Threats Against Iran’s Supreme Leader

More than 400 senior clerics from Iran’s religious center in Qom have thrown their support behind a controversial fatwa that equates any threat against the Supreme Leader with moharebeh – a serious religious charge meaning “waging war against God,” which carries the death penalty under Iran’s Islamic law.

The declaration, signed by members of the influential Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, gives religious backing to severe punishments for anyone who challenges or threatens Iran’s top religious authority. While the clerics didn’t name a specific fatwa, they praised a “sensitive, historic, and courageous” religious ruling, believed to refer to recent statements by Grand Ayatollah Hossein Nouri Hamedani and Nasser Makarem Shirazi. These fatwas were reportedly issued after Israeli officials hinted at targeting Ali Khamenei.

“The Supreme Leadership and religious authorities represent the dignity of the Islamic Ummah,” the clerics stated, through a release published by Fars News Agency, a media outlet linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). “Any threat against them is considered a threat against the core of Islam.”

The signatories include hardline figures like Ahmad Khatami and Alireza Arafi – both members of Iran’s powerful Guardian Council – along with dozens of other seminary scholars tied to the country’s religious and political establishment.

This move highlights the deepening connection between Iran’s religious institutions and state power, where questioning the Supreme Leader is not only seen as political dissent but a religious crime punishable by death.