Tehran: Iran’s highest Shia clerics have issued stern warnings against the United States and Israel following provocative remarks targeting the country’s Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani declared that any attack on Shia Marja and the Leader of the Islamic nation is an attack on Islam itself and will trigger a harsh and crushing response from the Iranian people and freedom-seekers worldwide.

According to Mehr News Agency, Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani condemned the "criminal president of the United States," accusing him of a history marked by “murdering, plundering, and assassination,” and of supporting “the brutal Zionist regime.” He denounced recent comments made by the US and its “oppressive rulers,” widely understood to refer to Israeli leadership, against Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, vowing retaliation.

“We declare that any attack on the Shia Marja and Leader of the Islamic Ummah is considered an attack on the pillar of Islam and also lives of all Muslims, and will receive a harsh and crushing response from the faithful nation of the Islamic Iran and all freedom seekers of the world,” the Ayatollah stated.

Further reinforcing this stance, Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi issued a fatwa, the highest level of Islamic legal ruling in Shia Islam, declaring anyone who threatens the Leader or Shia Marja to be an Enemy of God, to be opposed according to Islamic law.

This is not the first time Iranian clerics have issued fatwas calling for violent action. The most infamous example came in 1989 when a fatwa was issued against British author Salman Rushdie after his novel The Satanic Verses was deemed blasphemous. The decree called for Rushdie’s death, forcing him into hiding and inspiring subsequent attacks, including a stabbing in New York in 2023 that left Rushdie severely injured.