Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fatwa against nuclear weapons

In the Iranian system the elected parliament and president have limited powers. By far the single most powerful person is Chief of State Grand Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He has the final say. In addition to his political position--within the Shiite version of Islam he is what is known as a marja'a. Ayatollah Sistani in Iraq is also a a marja'a. A fatwa is a final religious decision absolutely binding on all Shiites within that marja'a's domain. All fatwas issued by a maja'a are written down and publicly announced. They carry almost as much weight as sacred scripture

Ayatollah Khamenei issue a fatwa against nuclear weapons last August. Even if other mullahs or ayatollahs would disagree or make a contrary declaration - Ayatollah Khamanei's decision would over ride them and would be the final word in matters of the Iranian state and to any Shiite believers within Ayatollah Khamenei's domain which would include almost all Iranian Shiites.

This is the statement regarding Ayatollah Khamanei's fatwa which comes from the website of the Islamic Republic of Iran - link:

http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0508104135124631.htm

Iran-Nuclear-Statement
Iran is a nuclear fuel cycle technology holder, a capability which is exclusively for peaceful purposes, a statement issued by the Islamic republic at the emergency meeting of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) read here Tuesday evening.

The Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued the Fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that Iran shall never acquire these weapons, it added.

The full text of the statement is as follows:
"Madam chair, colleagues,
"We meet when the world is remembering the atomic bombings of the civilians in Hiroshima (Aug 6) and Nagasaki (Aug 9) sixty years ago.

The savagery of the attack, the human suffering it caused, the scale of the civilian loss of life turning individuals, old and young, into ashes in a split second, and maiming indefinitely those who survived should never be removed from our memory. It is the most absurd manifestation of irony that the single state who caused this single nuclear catastrophe in a twin attack on our earth now has assumed the role of the prime preacher in the nuclear field while ever expanding its nuclear weapons capability.

"We as members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) are proud to underline that none of the NPT members of the NAM rely on nuclear weapons in any way for their security. That is not the case of many other states, who either possess nuclear weapons or are member of nuclear-armed alliances and it is such states that have taken on the self-assigned role of denying Iran its legal rights under the NPT to access the peaceful uses of nuclear technology in conformity with the treaty's non-proliferation obligations.

"Indeed, it is not only Iran but also many members of NAM that are denied the peaceful uses of nuclear technology by some of the NPT nuclear-weapon states and their allies through the mechanisms of export controls and other denial arrangements. In 1995, they adopted the so-called "Iran clause" under which they agreed to deny nuclear technology to Iran in any circumstances.

"You can then understand, why Iran after being denied nuclear technology in violation of the NPT, had no other option but to rely on indigenous efforts with precaution on full transparency and we succeeded in developing our nuclear technology. Iran is a nuclear fuel cycle technology holder, a capability which is exclusively for peaceful purposes.

"The Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has issued the Fatwa that the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall never acquire these weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who took office just recently, in his inaugural address reiterated that his government is against weapons of mass destruction and will only pursue nuclear activities in the peaceful domain. The leadership of Iran has pledged at the highest level that Iran will remain a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT and has placed the entire scope of its nuclear activities under IAEA safeguards and additional protocol, in addition to undertaking voluntary transparency measures with the agency that have even gone beyond the requirements of the agency's safeguard system.






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Is this official policy now?

only.

The President of Iran is indeed only a manager with limited powers. He is NOT the commander of the armed forces nor does he control the nuclear program.

but do they care?



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and we call THEM fundamentalist?

…would be a welcome development. The warped residents refused to do that.

or at least DU

I'm surprised that the MSM doesn't report this...:sarcasm:

Highly recommended!

the MSM it got.

war



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mouth. This is another effect of having a bunch of liars run your country: your general level of trust in authorities takes a dive and the coherence of society is weakened.

Recommended.


Peace.

address page.

The lapdog media will do its duty. They realize that much of the American public will in spite of misgiving feel its their patriotic duty to "support the troops". They realize that most but not all key Democrats will support the move at least initially--either because they agree with it or because they are afraid of being labeled "week on defense", "soft on terrorism", or being part of the "blame America first crowd".

I certainly hope I am wrong. but I would not put it past these people.
And as I always we must NEVER, NEVER, NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE WAR PROPAGANDA MACHINE..

Here is just one example. Now forget what you know about the reality of the situation. Forget what facts you know. Let's just imagine that we are Jane Doe or John Q. Public living in Anytown, USA:


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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/04/18.html#a7955

war profiteering corporate news monopolies!

One of the biggies, to me, is the new non-transparency of our election system, controlled by Bushite corporations with "TRADE SECRET," PROPRIETARY vote tabulation software and virtually no audit/recount controls.

I mean, it just boggles the mind, what these so-called journalists won't or can't cover.

Every day, you hear something bad about Iran--even if you just scan corporate "news" rags. (I can't imagine the level of propaganda on TV/radio--I don't much expose myself to it.) You never hear anything like this--such a statement of principle, and such withering irony about the hypocritical Bushites. I don't know that I trust this statement of principle, particularly--but in fact it DOES matter what a country's leaders espouse, because such espousals create diplomatic and other kinds of pressure on government leaders to remain lawful and ethical. This is one of the reasons that the Bush junta is so bad--espousing illegal, wrongful, murderous war, espousing rights of torture and unlawful detention, and domestic spying and ignoring laws passed by Congress, exhibiting contempt for the U.N. and international law, siding with the have's against the have-not's (one of the Bush's more disgusting pronouncements--which he passed off as a joke). These things are extremely harmful to world peace and the rule of law everywhere--and their opposite, governments that express RESPECT for lawfulness and ethics, even if they sometimes sneak around breaking laws and behaving immorally, creates a climate of intolerance for violence and tyranny.

So it's very, very important what the leader of Iran SAYS--and, more than that, it's very, very important that news organizations COVER it. They've covered the nut who keeps spouting off about Israel. Why don't they cover this ethical statement, by a higher leader--and thereby help him to keep his word, and thereby help to create a climate of peace and diplomacy?

I don't call our news organizations "war profiteers" lightly. I think that's exactly what they are. They are literal profiteers--with major news conglomerates directly profiting from war industries--and indirect profiteers, benefiting from all the attendant perks of the Bush junta such as corporate de-regulation, encouragement of monopolies, shallow news rooms (staff cuts make the rich richer--no real news coverage, just copy Karl Rove's "talking points"; propaganda = news on the cheap), multiple tax cuts for the rich.

Another item they never say a word about is that the U.S./Israel DESTROYED Iran's democracy in 1953, and installed the horrible Shah of Iran who inflicted the Iranian people with 25 years of torture and repression--something the Iranians have not forgotten. They have no reason to trust us. Our corporate news monopolies treat Iran as if its Muslim leadership sprang out of nowhere. We DROVE the Iranians into the arms of the mullahs, and forced their society into a backwards, more medieval mode, because they quite rightfully felt UNSAFE. If they open up, we'll hit them again with ANOTHER heinous dictator. The mullahs may seem repressive and alien to us--but the Shah was infinitely worse.

big trouble...

Somehow, I just never read about this before!

you would think it would be important enough to get mentioned on the nightly news, wouldn't you?


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Iran has the Bomb posts.

K&R'd

Thank you. Off to some other places with the "can we bomb Iran already" threads. I will not stop trying to do that little that I can to stop this grave impending injustice, hopefully your info can bring some knowledge to these discussions.

Thank you.

I think this particular piece of info. which has not gotten any mention at all in the mainstream American media needs to be shouted from the roof tops.

I hope people will try to circulate this info far and wide and feel free to copy whatever part of this post they want.

The word must get out



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Fishing for a Pretext in Iran

by Juan Cole; March 18, 2006

link: http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=9929

snip:"Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei has given a fatwa or formal religious ruling against nuclear weapons, and President Ahmadinejad at his inauguration denounced such arms and committed Iran to remaining a nonnuclear weapons state."

snip:"Tehran denies having military labs aiming for a bomb, and in November of 2003 the IAEA formally announced that it could find no proof of such a weapons program."

snip:"it is often alleged that since Iran harbors the desire to “destroy” Israel, it must not be allowed to have the bomb. Ahmadinejad has gone blue in the face denouncing the immorality of any mass extermination of innocent civilians, but has been unable to get a hearing in the English-language press. Moreover, the presidency is a very weak post in Iran, and the president is not commander of the armed forces and has no control over nuclear policy"

snip: "in November of 2003 the IAEA formally announced that it could find no proof of such a weapons program. The U.S. reaction was a blustery incredulity, which is not actually an argument or proof in its own right, however good U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton is at bunching his eyebrows and glaring."

Supreme Iranian leader – Grand Ali Ayatollah Khamenei is the Chief of State and He ALONE has the final say in matters of the Iranian state and the final religious authority over the vast overwhelming majority of Iranian Shiites.





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